In their fight against “harmful” insects, people cause much more harm to themselves than those with whom they fight
Ants are social insects of the suborder of stinging Hymenoptera, the closest relatives of wasps and bees, but not all species have stings and poisonous glands. It is thanks to their remarkable abilities for cooperation that ants have become the dominant group of arthropods. In warm countries, per 1 hectare of land you can count up to 20 million individuals of these ever-hurrying, busy creatures.
More than 10,000 species of ants are distributed throughout to the globe, except for the Far North and Antarctica. The most interesting, diverse and highly organized of them live in the tropics, but some “ant wise men” are also found in Russia. For example, redheads forest ants(Formica rufa) an inexhaustible source of research and discovery. Surely you have seen their magnificent anthills in our forests, where little red workaholics participate in soil formation and save plants from caterpillars.
Ant Wars
A few steps away from me, among the dense vegetation, a black mass appeared on the ground: ants were approaching. These predators, eciton ants, destroy all living things in their path.
Arkady Fidler . Call of the Amazon
While Europe manages to live more or less peacefully next to the ants, the United States is less fortunate. Just yesterday, you threw your sugar bowl on the floor in horror at the sight of yellow pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) and urgently called an insect exterminator? What trifles are these worries of yours compared to the many years of war between the United States and red fire ants (Solenopsis invicta)!
The dangerous invaders were accidentally brought to the United States by sea from South America in the early 1900s, when the cattle trade was booming. Since the climatic conditions turned out to be favorable, and there were and could not be any natural enemies on the alien land, within a few years the fire ants multiplied in incredible numbers. They “captured” more and more territories, moving from Alabama to California. Small fiery creatures mercilessly stung farmers, erected anthills in the path of mowers and undermined the image of the all-powerful capitalist power.
In reality, Americans suffered much more from wasp and bee poisons, but now the USDA had a good reason to let " heavy artillery" against fire ants. Mirex brand pesticides were sprayed throughout the southeastern United States from numerous helicopters and began to wait for the results... The first to sound the alarm was biologist, founder of the global environmental movement, Rachel Carson, who later described all the vicissitudes of this war in her bestseller “ Silent Spring (1962). “Who has the right to decide for all of us,” she was indignant, “that the highest value is a world without insects, a barren world, not adorned even by the wing of a flying bird?” Rachel was right: after eating Mirex-laced worms, all migratory thrushes disappeared, and in 1976 it was convincingly proven that these chemicals are dangerous to humans and are a heart toxin. Perhaps Carson herself became a victim of pesticides that caused cancer; she died two years after the publication of the book.
By the way, in the USSR there were also attempts to use Mirex, but not on such a large scale.
Chemical question
No mortal has ever won victories over the sky.
Everyone is devoured by the cannibal earth.
Are you still intact? And you brag about it?
Wait: you'll be the ants' lunch!
Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat
By the 1990s, fire ants, unlike thrushes, had recovered and increased their populations. Moreover, now they are interested not only in newborn chicks, but also in wires, air conditioners, traffic lights and other electrical appliances, which they disable, causing economic damage to the United States in the amount of $6 billion a year. The description of the great “ant confrontation” is included in many abstracts and scientific works on ecology, in particular, in 2004, the “detective” work of Joshua Busa was published ( Joshua Blu Bugs. The Fire Ant Wars), which once again reminds us of the possible consequences of using pesticides.
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Despite developing transgenic technologies that will help us protect crops from codling moths and leaf borers, the topic of chemicals still remains one of the most pressing in the world. For example, according to a recent BBC report, almost one third of British produce contains pesticides. The discovery of a group of scientists from the Harvard University School of Public Health led by Alberto Ascherio made even more noise in June 2006. Pesticides used in agriculture have been shown to increase the risk of Parkinson's disease by 70%. Based on this discovery, Mrs. Bertrand Couderc, the lawyer of a certain agricultural worker, for the first time in France was able to prove that his illness was an occupational disease and achieve significant financial compensation for her ward.
Perhaps, with the help of the fashionable theme of the far-fetched danger of genetically modified organisms, they are trying to distract us from more real threat? For me, the “chemical issue” will always be relevant, since I myself have experienced the effects of chemicals. When I was about 13, we moved to a town not far from one of the oldest cities in Siberia Usolye-Sibirskoye. It always seemed to me that Siberia with its wonderful green taiga is the lungs of Russia. How wrong I was! Almost every morning our houses were covered with a thick cloud of chlorine, and after a few months I turned from a cheerful and healthy child into a stunted creature. Then I didn’t know who was to blame and to whom I should direct my hatred. But for sure they could breathe normally and did not know the terrible word “asthma.” I was urgently sent to Kyrgyzstan to my grandmother, and I was saved, which cannot be said about some other children who became disabled. They say that currently the environmental situation in Siberia has improved only because many chemical production facilities are idle due to the economic crisis. But let's return to our “great and terrible” ants.
No matter how tempting it was to give the ants a chemical attack, the USDA switched from pesticides to more complex strategic developments. So, they have already been imported from South America natural enemies fire ants are humpback flies of the genus Phoridae that lay eggs in the body of a living Solenopsis invicta. The developing larva eventually decapitates the ant using a special enzyme. IN South America You can often observe how humpbacks swarm over ant colonies, and their larvae, covered with a mask from the head of an ant, brazenly “walk” along with the Hymenoptera.
And the fight continues again
The ants undoubtedly noticed the arsonists and chased them. They ran faster than people, and the distance between them was decreasing.
Vladimir Obruchev. Plutonium
No one wants to go through the sad experience of the United States, but until scientists have invented a biofilter similar to the one presented in the movie “A Sound of Thunder”, no one is safe from invasions of South American ants. So, in March 2006, Israel was attacked by an army of the same warlike Solenopsis invicta. Creepy photographs of Israeli crabs covered in fire ants spread around the world, and “Beware of Ants” warnings appeared on beaches. In Australia, terrified environmentalists are battling “crazy” yellow ants Anoplolepis gracilipes, which inject acid into the eyes of local defenseless lizards and chicks and threaten to destroy the endemic fauna. They are trying to fight them with the help of a special insecticide “Fipronil”, mixed into food pellets that are attractive only to ants of this species.
Russia, with its cool climate, is not a very pleasant place for tropical “barbarians,” but the fire ant Solenopsis savissima var has already been discovered in one of the Moscow hospitals. Richteri. If we take on faith the hypothesis of some pessimistic scientists, in particular Mike Pilling from the University of Linden, West Yorkshire, in 100200 years the climate in Europe will become incredibly warmer. It will probably be nice to harvest two or three crops a year, but nothing will stop the heat-loving ants from conquering new territories.Some tropical ants can give an unadapted European a heart attack with just one of their appearance, and what will happen if they come to visit you? In the jungles of Southeast Asia, I saw colonies of ants a meter (!) wide, sweeping through the grass like giant black waves. Tourists ran away, and only naturalists like me looked at this riot of life with great pleasure. And the point here is not in courage, but in knowledge of the habits of insects - most ants do not at all look for meetings with a person and rush at him only when the “destroyer” approaches the nest. The most dangerous are South American and African wandering ants, which sweep away everything in their path, and people have to leave villages or erect a fire barrier around their houses.
In Search of Solomon's Ring
So ants, having collided somewhere,
rub their snouts to find out
perhaps about the prey or about the path.
But only for a moment, the embrace of friendship lasts.
Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy. Purgatory. XXVI song
Is there a way to protect yourself from hymenoptera infestations? Perhaps the study of behavior will help us with this social insects. When crowds of hungry leeches or mosquitoes attack you, you have to flee, but ants are more highly organized creatures, so why not come to an agreement with them! As an outstanding ethologist used to say Nobel laureate Konrad Z. Lorenz: “I have every reason to believe that Solomon really could talk with animals, and even without the help of a magic ring, the possession of which is attributed to him by legend.”
The so-called hypothetical language of ants is still too complex for human understanding, but experiments to decipher it have been going on for a long time. This language most likely consists of a complex of odors (pheromones), gestures (movements of limbs) and antennal contacts. The most popular object for studying the “linguistics” of insects honey bees, relatives of ants. It was on them that the Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch, who received the award in 1973 Nobel Prize, proved the existence of a symbolic dance language. Final confirmation of the presence of “linguistic” abilities in bees was received in the early 1990s by Danish engineer Bent Bach Andersen. He conducted a truly amazing experiment, creating an artificial robotic bee that transmitted commands to real bees where to fly for nectar. And they did them! Such experiments are incredibly difficult for a number of reasons. For example, bees from different areas have different dialects, much like people from different republics.
But this does not stop us from dreaming how convenient it would be to learn to “tell” the ants: “Danger! Everyone urgently get out of this area!” A less fantastic way to fight ants is to synthesize the smell of ant enemies and introduce it into the anthill. Insects will cease to distinguish between who is their own and who is a stranger, and will start a “fratricidal” war. Similar experiments are already being carried out at the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine) on Argentine ants Linepithema humile, also imported from South America and displacing local arthropods. A group of scientists led by Neil Tsutsui managed to obtain a substance that “Argentines” perceive as the mark of ants of another species.
Unless they know how to cross-stitch
Is there anything more beautiful in the world than an ant? Its body lines are clean and curved, its aerodynamics are perfect It looks like an Italian racing car.
Bernard Werber. Ants
If we forget about the ant wars, in which man himself is to blame, then the civilization of ants is a most interesting object for peaceful study and contemplation. Try watching the “ant wise men” one day, and very soon such a hobby may develop into something more. The simplest and most harmless experiment to identify ant “intelligence” is this: place a low candle on the dome of the “house” of red forest ants, and you will find that they are able to put out a fire with targeted shots of formic acid.
The mysterious behavior of insects has given rise to new fashion in some European pet stores they sell special formicariums (something like strong terrariums) with small colonies of ants inside. In Russia, this hobby is still in its infancy, but there already exist special clubs for ant lovers. Here you can discuss what to feed your pets and how to maintain them. Thus, many ants die after eating mayonnaise or sausage, but live long and happily if they are fed with fresh honey. I became convinced that ants are no less gourmets than people on September 8, 2006, at a book fair in Moscow, after talking with science fiction writer and insect lover Bernard Werber.
Tell me, how do you know such details about the life of the ant civilization? Did you really watch them or is everything written a fantasy? I asked this kind Frenchman.
I moved into the courtyard of my house not big ant nickname and watched the insects with pleasure. What outraged me most was that they didn’t want to eat anything except caviar! After completing my research, I took them back to the forest.
Fortunately, people's interest in ants is not only gastronomic. Ants are the best in many respects, and it would be nice to learn something from them. For example, if you carry out simple mathematical calculations, it turns out that ants run faster than people. That is, if they were our size, they would reach a speed of 80 km/h. In addition to unprecedented speeds, these insects also demonstrate the phenomenon of longevity. Usually the anthill is renewed every year, but some females live up to 10-20 years. Perhaps the secret of their longevity is in the ants’ “state system”? The architectural talents of these small insects cannot but arouse admiration.
Many human corporations are affectionately called “anthills,” but how can we compete with ants! Any human company is unstable, since some “worker” will sooner or later begin to weave intrigues and try to take the place of the “queen”. In ants, such blasphemy is impossible, since certain castes exist from birth, and all workers are underdeveloped females who will never become queens. Among the ants there are also slave owners, for example, Amazon ants (Polyergos rufescens), which steal pupae of other ant species. If you are lucky and you meet Amazon ants in the southern part of the Moscow region, be sure to watch them. Their predatory trips to neighboring anthills are a breathtaking sight. The most curious thing is that the slaves who do all the work for the Amazons will never know about their origin and will not charge their enslavers with racism.
In the animated film “The Ant Bully”, inspired ants demonstrate the wonders of cooperation: they build living “bridges” and “ladders” to cross the gorge, confer, and develop a war strategy. Do you think these are all fairy tales? Some species are actually capable of such tricks, for example, wandering Eciton ants (genus Eciton) constantly roam and are forced to overcome many obstacles. For some reason, thousands of ants constructing pontoon bridges from their own bodies do not surprise me. Now, if we saw such miracles of mutual assistance among people somewhere in the center of Moscow, during rush hour, it would be a sensation. What do you think?
Killer ants are bloodthirsty insects, whose bites can provoke a severe allergic reaction, the consequences of which can be very unpredictable, including suffocation and fatal intoxication of the body. Therefore, it is best not to meet with such insects.
The main habitat of killer ants is Africa. But this does not mean at all that they live in one place. Some of them do not even have an anthill at all and are constantly moving, thereby constantly posing a threat to the local population and even large animals.
Killer ants are mainly found in Africa
This is explained, first of all, by the fact that it is in this part of the world that many local residents consider them to be real killers and, when they appear, do not begin to fight them, but, on the contrary, leave their homes and take all the animals with them, leaving their home as far as possible. Unfortunately, this is far from fiction, since these insects really destroy all living things in their path.
As for our regions, it is absolutely impossible to meet this kind of insects, since they choose an exclusively tropical climate for their residence.
At this time, the most dangerous varieties in the world are considered to be those that contain a fairly aggressive poison. These include:
- fire ants;
- yellow ants;
- bullet ant;
- bearded harvester ant;
- nomadic army ant - siafu;
- bulldog ant.
Bullet ants are considered one of the most dangerous, as they have very strong poison. Their bite simply causes unbearable pain, which accompanies the affected area throughout the day. The main habitat of such insects is the tropics and subtropics.
Another quite serious and dangerous ant for humans is considered to be the fire ant. The bite of this insect causes a severe allergic reaction in a person, which leads to the death of the person. The peculiarity of these ants is also that they easily adapt to completely unfamiliar territories. As for the bite of these insects, they feel more like pain from a burn, which in turn also provokes the formation of a tumor.
A fire ant bite causes a severe allergic reaction in humans.
Poisonous insects also include yellow ants, which can only be found in Arizona. After the bite of this insect, not only significant swelling appears on the surface of the body, but also severe allergic reaction, which very often ends in death.
Bearded harvester ants are mainly distinguished by the fact that they do no harm at all agriculture, as they feed on cereals and grains. Among other things, these ants are completely safe for humans; on the contrary, they help destroy various pests in the fields.
Australia is home to another species of ants that pose a danger to human health. This is the nomadic army ant Siafu. The danger of this insect lies in the fact that it has quite powerful jaws, and its bites provoke the development of serious allergic reactions.
One of the largest and dangerous ants is a bulldog. As practice shows, out of a hundred people bitten by this insect experience anaphylactic shock.
As mentioned earlier, the most dangerous ants in the world are rightly called killers. These insects can not only lead to the death of an animal, but also a person, especially for those who suffer from a tendency to allergic reactions.
Each of these ants leads a specific lifestyle and eats completely differently. For example, harvester ants are herbivorous insects that feed mainly on cereals and grains. Currently, about ten varieties of these ants are known in nature, five of which can be found in Russia.
These insects live in special nests, which they build independently at a depth of about ten meters. They are mainly active at night. A special feature of these ants is that they collect grains from the ground without injuring the growing ear at all.
In their anthills, harvester ants build special grain storage chambers
Pay attention! In their anthills, harvester ants build special grain storage chambers, into which they can place about fifty kilograms of grains per season.
As for fire ants, they prefer to live exclusively in warm environments closer to agricultural land. Ants live in nests and can also hide in underground passages at a depth of about one meter. Insects feed exclusively on pests that attack crops such as rice, legumes and sugar cane, as well as larvae, shoots and plant stems.
Yellow killer ants can only be found in American state Arizona. This ant is considered very dangerous as it can cause death with just one bite.
Arizona yellow ant
Bullet ant is enough dangerous insects and is impressive in size. This insect lives in South America. These insects prefer to live in small colonies in nests that are built at the base of tree trunks and, in some cases, directly on them.
The bullet ant prefers to obtain food in dark time days. Ants feed mainly on insects, both living and dead, as well as tree sap.
African siafu killer ants prefer to live in tropical forests African continent. For their habitat, these insects build anthills, which are formed by interlocking the limbs of insects. In the middle of such an anthill sits the queen. These insects are distinguished by the fact that they can roam freely for up to ten days, after which they set up camp. These ants feed on absolutely everything that comes their way. It could even be snakes, frogs, birds, as well as various nests.
Nomadic army ant - siafu
One of the largest killer ants is the bulldog, which mainly lives in Australia. These insects dig their own anthills at shallow depths. As for nutrition, they prefer plant nectar and fruit juices.
Each type of ant has its own characteristics. This also applies to breeding conditions. For example, bulldog ants organize a flight once a year, during which mating occurs between the sexual individuals emerging from the larvae. After this, the females scatter around the area, and the males die.
African Siafu killer ants make a halt for reproduction and during this period begin laying, which is carried out by the female; while this is happening, the bivouac can still exist for about three weeks. After the female lays offspring, the working class takes the larvae and, licking them, takes them to secluded places. As for the lifespan of these ants, the female can live for 15 years, the rest no more than two years.
In the bullet ant, the queen is also responsible for reproduction, which, like all other species, is carefully looked after, because she bears eggs for further reproduction.
The average lifespan of killer ants is about 2 months.
As for killer ants themselves, of course, it primarily depends on their habitat. Undoubtedly, queens of any variety are considered to be long-lived. Males are endowed with the shortest duration of residence, dying almost immediately after mating, and as for worker ants, they live on average about two months.
The most dangerous ant
Of all the insect species listed above, the most dangerous is the bullet ant, which lives in tropical forests. These insects prefer to live mainly in trees.
A special feature of this ant is also that it can scream and does this at every approaching danger.
Benefits of killer ants
As practice shows, not all killer ants are capable of causing only harm; some varieties can also have a positive effect.
For example, this applies to harvester ants, which protect fields from pests and feed exclusively on grains that they find on the ground. These insects also never climb the plant's roots, which prevents damage to them.
Somehow I can’t believe that such small, nimble and seemingly harmless insects can pose a huge danger to humans. Nevertheless, it is true! Let's talk about them.
There are not that many species of ants that are dangerous to humans, just that many. There are only six of them. The bite of these insects can cause great harm to health, and sometimes lead to death. It's all about the poison that is contained in the body of ants. It is this that causes an allergic reaction that can lead to death. As for the term killer ants, it is not entirely correct. These poisonous insects are treated more favorably, assigning each species its own nickname.
The most dangerous is the bullet ant. He lives in the tropical forests of South and Central America. Settles in trees. When danger approaches, the ant begins to make sounds similar to a human scream. Its bite is much more painful than a hornet bite, and feels very similar to bullet wound. Hence its name. Ant venom contains poneratoxin, which can cause paralysis and severe pain. It is valid for 24 hours.
The Indians have a special ritual to which the young man is subjected. A leaf with an ant is tied to his hand. As a result of bites, the hand becomes stiff and loses sensitivity. To become a man, a young man must withstand at least twenty such bites.
Another type of poisonous ant called army ants, or siafu, lives in the beds of the Amazon River. They do not have their own anthill and constantly roam. This insect grows up to one and a half centimeters in length. Its head is round, with long sword-like stings at the end. With their help, an ant can chop any object into small pieces. The insect is completely blind and attacks all living creatures that come its way, showing incredible cruelty. Siafu live in colonies that are constantly moving. If the queen decides to lay eggs, the movement stops, and ants - hunters - take over the work, whose task is to provide food for the brood. With the appearance of small ants, movement resumes.
We have already said that siafu attack all living things. They eat: rats, poultry, large artiodactyls, dogs, small reptiles. A colony of these ants can eat the same horse without special labor in 5-6 days. In humans, a siafu bite can cause an allergic reaction. However, no deaths were identified.
Another poisonous insect lives in Australia. This is a bulldog ant. It got its name because of its huge and powerful jaws, the length of which reaches 15 millimeters. The insect itself grows up to four centimeters in length. In addition to sharp and powerful jaws, the ant has a sharp sting. During a bite, poison enters the human body, which can cause acute pain, an allergic reaction, anaphylactic shock and even death.
Next view poisonous insects- fire ants. Their bite is deadly to humans. They are originally from South America. IN lately Fire ants can be found in Europe and Asia. They quickly adapt to new things climatic conditions and feel great.
The body of the ant is cinnamon, with a reddish tint. It itself is quite small, no more than four millimeters long. The insect has a sharp, poisonous sting. When bitten, the poison solenopsin is injected into the victim's body, which causes a thermal burn, acute pain, and an allergic reaction. In the absence medical care death may occur.
Yellow ants are found in the US state of Arizona. These small insects, at first glance, do not cause much concern. At the same time, they are very dangerous. The bite of a yellow ant is very painful. A tumor forms around the wound, and an allergic reaction develops, leading to anaphylactic shock with possible death. The ant kills animals weighing up to 2 kg instantly, with just one bite.
The Red Harvester ant lives in the same area as the yellow ant. It poses a mortal danger to humans. Its poisonous sting contains poison that can kill large animals. The symptoms are the same as for a yellow ant bite. Possible death.
There are not too many ants dangerous to people, but there are killer ants large number scary stories. These bloodthirsty ants have become real legends.
Ants can be really dangerous for people; there are not many of them, but it is better not to meet them. Here are ants that have a bloodthirsty disposition:
- Nomadic ants living in Africa and South America;
- Australian bulldog ants;
- Bullet Ant;
- Fire ants.
The bite of each of the above ants can be fatal if a person has an acute allergic reaction. IN in this case Fatal intoxication and suffocation may occur.
Of course, such cases are exceptional, so calling all these ants “killers” because of isolated cases is not fair. But, nevertheless, you should learn more about those ants that people fear more than the most ferocious predators.
Nomadic ants or Siafu ants
These ants move in large columns. Everything that gets in the way of the soldiers is immediately destroyed. With their powerful jaws, these insects grab woodlice, beetles, and larvae running past, tear them into pieces and carry them to the colony. If nomadic ants encounter a larger prey, for example, a mouse, lizard, or snake, then they fall on it in a moving black mass, and not a trace of the animal remains.
The peculiarity of nomadic ants is that they do not have an anthill. Their reproduction occurs in temporary bivouacs, which are formed by working ants, connecting to each other with their jaws. This bivouac has a spherical shape. It seems that there is chaos going on there, but in reality everything is organized there.
These ants spend most of their lives roaming, looking for food, which is where their name comes from.
Siafu ant soldiers look terrifying: they are quite large - up to 1.5 centimeters in length, with huge jaws that exceed the size of the head.
The main difference between nomadic ants and ordinary ones is their regular migrations. The females of nomadic ants are truly huge - their body length reaches 5 centimeters. They reach this size during the period of egg laying. They are considered the largest of all ant species studied.
Siafu females have another record - they are capable of laying up to 130 thousand eggs daily. No other insect has such high fertility.
Nomadic ants are called African killer ants, but in reality they are not. Their danger is greatly exaggerated. Indeed, the bites of these insects are very painful, and they can also provoke severe allergic reactions. If a person gets into the center of such a colony, he will be seriously bitten. But these ants cannot eat a person. They feed only on other types of insects and small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, snakes and baby birds.
Some birds have adapted to living near nomadic ants and benefit from this, for example, the Ocellated Ant eats insects that are scared off by a moving colony of killer ants. In this regard, ants accompany colonies of African ants.
So, African killer ants are the fruit of the fertile imagination of adventure story writers. It is worth noting that the forest ants living in our country are just as bloodthirsty; they destroy huge amount insects All the stories about destroyed villages and bones that remain from large animals and people gnawed in a second are simply fiction.
Bullet Ant
The name of these ants is due to the fact that when they bite, a very severe pain, which hits the body like a bullet. The venom of these ants contains a powerful toxin - poneratoxin. Once a bullet ant inflicts a bite, the pain lasts for 24 hours, which is why they are also called “24 hour ants.”
On the Schmidt scale, the pain from the bite of this ant reaches the highest level of 4, that is, it exceeds the pain from any other insect bites.
These ants are one of the largest on the planet: the female’s body length reaches 3 centimeters, and worker- up to 2.5 centimeters.
The stinging force of the “bullet ant” on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index scale corresponds to the highest, 4th, level. Ants live 24 hours in South America. Some Indian tribes use them to conduct terrible male initiation rituals, during which sleeves with these ants are placed on the boys' hands. After the ceremony, the hands may not move for several days, become insensitive and turn black.
Black bulldog ants
These insects are quite large, but they became famous not for their size, but for their bites. Statistics show that bulldog ant bites kill more people in Tasmania every year than snakes, spiders and sharks combined.
Such a bite provokes a powerful allergic reaction - more than 3% of victims develop anaphylactic shock. It is impossible to find out in advance what reaction the body will have. Even a person with a normal reaction to a bee or wasp sting can be fatal after being bitten by a bulldog ant.
These ants are very primitive compared to their counterparts, perhaps that is why they are so poisonous.
Fire red ant
These ants are considered the most dangerous ants in the world. This is not even due to painful bites and strong poison, but to their ability to take root in different conditions. They are spreading around the world at lightning speed.
Red fire ants are native to Brazil, from where they traveled on trade ships to China, the USA and Australia. In addition, they are trying to destroy them in Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong, but so far the ants are winning.
When a fire ant bites, a toxin, solenopsin, penetrates the wound. According to the Schmidt pain scale, this pain corresponds to pain from a burn, which is where the name comes from. Every year these ants bite thousands of people; almost all victims experience a severe allergic reaction, and in isolated cases anaphylactic shock occurs.
Fire ants bite both wild and domestic animals. About $5 billion is spent annually in the United States on medical and veterinary care after being bitten by these ants.
People must understand that all ants, even dangerous and aggressive ones, are necessary for nature. These insects are pest controllers, they destroy sick and dying insects and animals. The concepts of “harmful” and “dangerous” should not be confused, even the most dangerous ants deserve respect.
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