News Animals

Fire ants build little syphons out of sand to feed without drowning

To escape a watery death, the insects construct relatively sophisticated structures on the fly

fire ants building syphons

To avoid drowning, black imported fire ants build syphons out of sand that draw tasty, sugary water out of containers.

Aiming Zhou, Jian Chen

By Aayushi Pratap

- More than 2 years ago

The threat of death is no obstacle for some hungry fire ants. To escape drowning while feeding on sugary water, black imported fire ants built syphons out of sand that moved the water to a safer spot.