One ant sinks in piddle , but a bunch of them ? It turns out they can link together and become an unsinkable life history mint . New researchshows that when fire - pismire are drop in water , they quickly organize a pancake - shaped floating mass , which traps atmosphere beneath them .
The results are fabulously buoyant ( a outgrowth the investigator liken to weaving rainproof baskets ) . The trap airwave also protect the bottom layer of ant from drowning , and as individual ant are removed , the others shift spot to equilibrize out the raft .
Rather than a beautiful instance of cooperation , it looks like this unconscious process may be a forced one , as those towards the boundary of the ant muckle are forcibly carry in place by their neighbors .
The study was trialled on masses of ants number between 500 and 8,000 . Each group successfully formed a quite a little . The behavior is an adaptation that ’s extremely useful in the ants ’ Brazilian rainforest habitat , due to frequent photoflood . Scientists compared the doings of the ant masses to a fluid , with each ant behave as a molecule of the liquid .
Here ’s the upshot : If you ca n’t drown them , I guess fire ’s the only answer .
BiologyEvolutionScience
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