Recently, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, one of the most dangerous ant species in the world: the "legion" of red fire ants is sweeping in and has now invaded 12 provinces in China. They destroy crops, fuel pests, bite when they encounter people, and are toxic. Red fire ant prevention and control is imminent, some experts estimate that if the red fire ant can not be effectively controlled, it will cause more than 120 billion yuan of economic losses in the next 35 years.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="6" how scary are > red fire ants? </h1>
Red fire ants, commonly known as fire ants. It also has another terrible name called the Invincible Ant. According to scientists, there are currently more than 14,000 species of ants on Earth, of which the most invasive ants are at the top of the list, red fire ants, big-headed ants, Argentine ants, and long-legged ants.
Red fire ants were first mainly distributed in South America, such as Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and other countries. In China, the red fire ant is considered an invasive species. The large-scale red fire ant invasion discovered this time is not a sudden invasion, but an early sign. As early as September 2004, staff at the phytosanitary station in Wuchuan, Guangdong Province, had spotted the presence of red fire ants, accompanied by biting villagers.
Although the relevant departments immediately took protective work, they did not completely eliminate the red fire ants. Instead, the cunning red fire ants secretly carried out large-scale invasions underground, and until now the invasion area has spread to 12 provinces across the country.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > ants that can "smuggle in"</h1>
Seemingly insignificant ants, you can't imagine that it has already established their ant empire underground with its small body and weak strength. Researchers have found an ant nest the size of a tennis court in the jungles of French Guiana.
Located beneath the surface, the deepest point can reach more than 10 meters underground, and it is built with intricate tunnels that resemble human transportation systems. If you zoom in, the ant's transportation system is equivalent to a subway tunnel built by humans 100,000 meters underground!
So the question is, even if the ant is strong, it cannot cross the sea from one place to the whole world? Yes, the ant can move freely on land, but it does not have the ability to cross the sea. But the ant is very clever, and it actually uses human activities to hide inside the cabin and travel around the world on human ships.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="6" > an ant society beyond your imagination, fortunately they have a lower IQ than humans</h1>
Warm up together and ride through hardships: Before there is a weather forecast, people often judge the weather conditions through the phenomenon of ants moving. This is because whenever it rains heavily, people can always see swarms of ants moving from one place to another. Sometimes even another, more magical phenomenon can be seen, when a heavy rain falls too much and too fast, the ants have no time to escape to the heights, they will hug together, forming a "raft" to get through the difficulties together.
Ants not only encounter water "shipbuilding" but also build bridges when they encounter cracks. When scientists were investigating the rainforest, they found a very surprising phenomenon, that is, in the process of advancing, if the ant team encountered a crack in the ground, they would pull one by one and build a complex "bridge" with their small bodies.
In addition, scientists have done an experiment to test the IQ of ants: simulating the fracture environment on the ground and building an artificial bridge for ants. In the face of such an environment, the ants did use the artificial bridge, smoothly passed the fault zone, and took the shortest path on the artificial bridge in an orderly manner.
Ants turn out to be "farmers" who grow mushrooms: if you think that a small ant will only be a "porter" from the world of nature and humans, you are underestimating it. In the tropics of the Americas, there is an ant called the "leafcutter ant", which is smarter than other ants because they do more complex work: planting!
The researchers found in their nests that the ant actually produced an indoor fungus on a large scale. How did they go from being a porter to a farmer? First, the leafcutter ant first finds an unknown plant leaf from the ground and then moves it back to its nest. When these green leaves decay, they will grow bright and delicious mushrooms, and at this time, smart ants can eat delicious food in their "homes" without leaving home.
Effective communication, a clear division of labor: do you know how many ants there are on Earth? This amount may be so large that you will be stunned! According to researchers, the number of ants on Earth accounts for about 10-15% of the total number of organisms, and this number is similar to the number of our human population. In our human society, there are various social systems, so the ant world is the same.
In the ant world, they define their social status based on the smell on each ant's body. That is to say, different ants also have different identities, they have ant kings, queens, worker ants, soldier ants, slave ants and so on. They have a clear division of labor and work in an orderly manner. Some are responsible for safety care, some are responsible for handling production, some are responsible for building nests, and so on.
The race struggle in the ant world: the peaceful, united ant world we see, actually comes only from the same race. In the world of ants, even if it is microscopic, there is also "war". And the red fire ant is a terrible intruder. Wherever the red fire ant goes, it is often the nightmare of the local ant tribe.