While most ants are known for their complex, underground burrows, the extraordinary construction skills of the green ant are a bit more advanced. Like a finely tuned crew of engineers, these ants work together to build their nests in the treetops, high above the ground most of their kind call home.
Dwelling in the Australian rain forest, these ants, also called weaver ants, can live in huge colonies of up to 500,000 individuals. There they build their masterpieces, in feats of acrobatics the Ringling Brothers would be proud to display.
These ants build their nests out of leaves. They climb atop one another, making an insect chain, until the highest ant can reach across the gap to a neighboring leaf. Together, they pull the leaves closer until they are touching. They then “sew” the leaves together using silk.
The process is quite remarkable. Tiny, legless larvae are carried by worker ants, and when the workers stroke the larvae with their antennae, the infant ants produce a sticky silk that can be used to bind the leaves together. As with all ant colonies, all this work is for but one purpose: to protect the queen.
Green ants are very territorial and are highly aggressive towards invaders. Their powerful jaws can deliver a painful bite, after which they will spray formic acid from their mouths which, while not fatal to humans, can cause a painful and itchy blister. Because they don’t destroy crops, some farmers even use these formidable fellows as pest control, allowing the ants to nest and keep away other, more harmful insects.
Despite their name, green ants are mostly an orange-brown in color with a green abdomen. In this video, a small group of green ants display their extraordinary construction skills to make a safe haven for their queen and her young.
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Featured Image from visualsofdusk/Unsplash
