Main content

Desert ants

Every morning in the Australian desert, meat ants head out to find last night's fatalities. After butchering the remains of a grasshopper, they will carry the body parts back to their bunker. Meat ants outnumber all other animals at floor level, and all other invertebrates are dead meat. By taking the body parts below ground, the ants give the mulga trees the nutrition they need to grow in the desert. There are over 1000 species of ant in Australia but bulldog ants are the fiercest. Each one is 4 centimetres of pure aggression, but they are not just out for themselves. Hunters from the colony will bring back insects and even small reptiles to feel the underground colony. They dig shafts that go 2 metres underground where the queen and her larvae live in the coolest and best protected chambers. Here, the queen produces a constant supply of larvae.

Release date:

Duration:

2 minutes

This clip is from

Featured in...

More clips from Desert Heart