14 Aug Millions Of Ants Form A Living Bridge To Attack Enemy Wasp Nest

Nature is pretty damn incredible. And I’m sort of stating the obvious here but everything we have in this world comes from nature. Every single one of our possessions are made from materials such as metal, plastic, wood – you name it – they all come from everyone’s favorite adoptive parent, Mother Nature.

Plus, the house you live in and everything inside it was once a part of the Earth. Then there are the clothes you wear which – you guessed it – also come from nature. Even silk, which as we know is a very highly sought after material, derives from the hard graft of silkworms. They make a webbed material that has a very soft, “silky” feel to it, and which starts off looking a little like this:

It may be hard to believe considering us humans have become such an insatiable bunch, but Earth really does provide us with everything we need. Back when societies didn’t run on constantly evolving technology, we had Mother Nature to fall back on for our survival in this world.

Of course, nature will always have some pretty major malfunctions, such as the odd earthquake or tsunami, but ultimately, the world is designed to ensure the survival of as many species as possible.

One of the most humbling experiences for us as humans is witnessing living creatures in their natural habitats, doing all they can to survive. It really puts things into perspective, as we recognize just how easy our lives are in comparison.

Take ants for example. They may just be tiny little insects but that doesn’t mean they’re not crafty, intelligent, and dedicated to their own survival. Sure, an ant is weak and insignificant when it is on its own, but when they work as a team, they form a force to be reckoned with.

As if I need to prove it to you, watch this incredible video of a group of ants forming a bridge together to attack a wasp’s nest:

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Unsurprisingly, the footage, which was originally posted to Twitter by Francisco Boni, has since gone viral.

Boni wrote this alongside the video: “Attack of legionary ants (also known as army ants or marabunta) to a wasp honeycomb. Impressive the level of swarm intelligence and collective computation to form that bridge.”

The clip has now been viewed a staggering 700,000 times and has also accumulated 23,000 likes and nearly 10,000 retweets.

Later on in the Twitter thread that emerged after the first tweet, Boni explained more about the spectacular encounter, adding: “When this type of attack happens, the wasps usually escape and the ants do not leave until they’ve completely looted the honeycomb, carrying pupae, larvae, and eggs, as well as some adults who did not manage to escape. They can even build across the water!”

Using EarthSky as his reference, Boni also explained that there are a number of ants species that have difficulties walking upside down. According to Boni, it’s easier for them to follow the trail over a bridge that “goes down and then up” than having to make their way on an inverted upside-down walk.

Twitter user, @godie1998, shared their theory on how this bizarre bridge formed in the first place, writing:

“They probably started as a straight path and started adding ants as gravity pulled the whole bunch down, so the bridge doesn’t end up breaking due to linear tension. So the first minutes they built the bottom part (looks less vertical) and added on the extremes on necessity.”

“It’s only a hypothesis but – proportional to time – their bridge is perfectly reflective of the gravitational pull of an object on free fall (so, as time went on, they expanded the bridge more frequently due to increased weight).”

So there we have it: never underestimate just how crafty and resourceful ants can be. They might just surprise you!

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