This is an amazing story about army ants – that when army ants find a hole in their trail, one of them will plug the hole with its body, allowing the other ants to use it as a bridge. If the ant is the right size to bridge the hole she will stay in place for several hours, allowing thousands of her sisters to use her as a bridge.
The energetic advantage of the arrangement is pretty intuitive. The researchers (Scott Powell and Nigel Franks from the University of Bristol) found that the behaviour increases food intake by the colony.
Filed under: Animal behaviour, Ants
