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Sky-diving ants save themselves a long climb
JOHN VON RADOWITZ
AN ANT species that lives high in the canopies of tropical forests has learned the art of sky-diving, say scientists.
The Cephalotes atratus workers typically live on tree trunks more than 90ft above the forest floor.
It is a long fall for any ant dislodged from its perch by a gust of wind or passing bird - and a long climb back up to the nest.
But scientists found that the ants hardly ever hit the ground. Instead they go into free-fall and, like sky-divers, steer their way through the air, the journal Nature reported.
Observations of the insects in Panama, Costa Rica and Peru showed that falling ants returned to their native tree trunk 85 per cent of the time.
The team of researchers, led by Dr Michael Kaspari from the University of Oklahoma, in the United States, painted the ants ’legs white and captured their falls on film.
They found the ants glide backwards, abdomen first, towards their tree, and typically rejoined their nestmates within ten minutes of a fall.
thescotsman.scotsman.com/inter...onal.cfm
JOHN VON RADOWITZ
AN ANT species that lives high in the canopies of tropical forests has learned the art of sky-diving, say scientists.
The Cephalotes atratus workers typically live on tree trunks more than 90ft above the forest floor.
It is a long fall for any ant dislodged from its perch by a gust of wind or passing bird - and a long climb back up to the nest.
But scientists found that the ants hardly ever hit the ground. Instead they go into free-fall and, like sky-divers, steer their way through the air, the journal Nature reported.
Observations of the insects in Panama, Costa Rica and Peru showed that falling ants returned to their native tree trunk 85 per cent of the time.
The team of researchers, led by Dr Michael Kaspari from the University of Oklahoma, in the United States, painted the ants ’legs white and captured their falls on film.
They found the ants glide backwards, abdomen first, towards their tree, and typically rejoined their nestmates within ten minutes of a fall.
thescotsman.scotsman.com/inter...onal.cfm