Fire Ants

Fire Ant Life Raft
Photograph courtesy David Hu and Nathan J. Mlot
When a city floods, humans stack sandbags and raise levees. When a fire ant colony floods, the ants link up to form a literal life raft, such as the one pictured. Now, new research shows exactly how the ants manage this feat.
Engineering professor David Hu and graduate student Nathan J. Mlot at Georgia Institute of Technology had heard reports of ant rafts in the wild that last for weeks. (Watch a fire ant video.)

Team Effort

LifeLine