10 June 2022
A study of fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) published in April 2022 shows them using nearby materials to build a bridge without any training on how to do it!
Another remarkable example of tool use in ants: fire ants “paving” sticky surfaces. I’ve seen signs of this behavior, but I didn’t expect it to be so robust until my friend told me about it (Wang et al., 2021 Insect Science). pic.twitter.com/BaHBmlgtXM
— Horace Zeng (@horacezhl) March 14, 2022
Ants may not be “smart” but they sure cooperate better than us humans.
(fire ants photo from Wikimedia Commons, embedded video tweeted by Horace Zeng @horacezhl)
Solenopsis invicta… chrysopylae?
Definitely Solenopsis invicta. You’d have to read the study (at the link) to get more species info.
Kate, it was a joke! I’m a San Franciscan. Chrysopylae translates to “golden gate”, y’know, as in Golden Gate… Bridge? Haha! Cheers!
Aha! Thanks for explaining.