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Teamwork: The fly is much bigger than it is, but the ants are smarter.
They work together and thus manage to hunt down heavy prey and bring it into the burrow.
There is sisterly sharing.
Photo: Rex-Features / action press
Special species
Area 24-hour ants unfolding
These ants live in the tropical rainforest and are among the largest in the world.
The workers are up to 2.5 centimeters long.
Your sting is one of the most painful insect bites ever.
The animals use their poison to repel attackers and paralyze prey.
According to insect researcher Justin Schmidt, the sting of the 24-hour ant feels like "walking over hot coals with a seven-centimeter-long rusty nail stuck in your heel."
After 24 excruciating hours (hence the name) the pain subsides and does not leave any lasting damage to the skin.
With the Sataré-Mawé, an indigenous people in Brazil, there is a test of courage for young men: They have to grasp a glove with a 24-hour ants.
Those who endure the stings of the animals are respected by the elders.
Photo: Culturacolectiva.com
Leaf cutter-ants opening area
The columns of ants carrying leaves through the area look impressive.
Their nests are even more impressive: they build systems underground that can be up to eight meters deep and as large as a three-room apartment.
Millions of animals live in a leaf cutter ant town - this town was built without any architects.
There are several types of leaf cutter ants.
They all do agriculture by creating underground mushroom gardens.
They feed their larvae and themselves on it. They grow the mushrooms with the help of the leaves that they harvest above ground.
Some workers specialize in cutting leaves, they have very large jaws.
Harvest workers carry the material into the building.
There it is chewed up by gardeners and inoculated with fungal threads.
Once the fungus has grown, other animals take over further care and harvest.
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa
Unfold the driver ants area
As a wild horde they hunt through the jungle and destroy whatever gets in their way. There are several types of driver ants in tropical forests, most of which hunt underground. Ant researchers know very little about them. Species that travel above ground are easier to observe. The armies roll forward like a teeming surface, eating other insects, spiders, woodlice, worms, even animals like small lizards. They are flanked by women soldiers with huge jaws who keep watch at the edges of the column.
About 100,000 animals kill driver ants on their hunts of up to twelve hours! The raids sound scary, but many other animals have adapted to the ants. They accompany the entourage and grab whatever is left behind for them. Some bird species are so used to the driver ants that without them they would not even be able to find enough food on their own.
Because driver ants wander around so much, they do not inhabit a solid nest.
They look for shelter like a hole in the ground or a few branches and set up their bivouac.
The building material for this is extraordinary: it is you yourself. The animals interlock to form a huge cluster.
Inside, the queen and offspring are protected - until the next hunt begins at dawn.
By the way: some species of ants can hook themselves onto a living raft.
This is how the animals can survive if they are caught by heavy rain.
They take turns doing the service above and below the water.
Photo: Daniel Kronauer
Unfold area desert ants
They look for prey in the hot desert sands. So for insects that have coped with the heat of 60 degrees less well than they themselves and have sizzled in the scorching sun. Desert ants have long legs so they are away from the hot ground. And they run super-fast: the animals manage one meter per second. Your body is cooled by the draft while running.
The orientation of the small animals in the desert is also impressive.
After all, everything looks the same here - sand everywhere and only sky above.
They find their way back to the nest by using several navigation systems: a sun compass, the earth's magnetic field and a calculation in which their steps and their direction of movement are constantly re-determined.
The mathematical keyword for this is vector decomposition, which is super complicated.
Nobody knows how the ants do it without a calculator.
Photo: Hecker / Sauer / Blickwinkel
Unfold the honey pot ants area
Sweet name, sweet animals: These ant species have a group of workers who store the food supply for the entire colony.
The animals collect sweet juice in their abdomen, which swells a lot.
The honey pots serve as living pantries for her sisters.
They hang from the ceiling and choke out juice when food is scarce.
Because honey pot ants taste great, the states are being invaded by other predatory species.
And people like to eat them too: in Australia, honeypot ants are eaten as a snack.
Photo: Avalon / Juniors / Wildlife
