Red fire ants are proliferating, because they are very poisonous. After being bitten by them, there will be a burning pain, and they may cause coma and shock, and even face life-threatening. In the 1930s, RIFA also caused a biological invasion in the United States.
The RIFA is extremely adaptable, has no natural enemies, and is very ferocious, hunting insects, earthworms, frogs, birds, and even small mammals. In the United States, there is no disadvantage in conquering cities and towns, and the native ants almost disappear wherever they go.
They can be seen everywhere in fields and residential courtyards, not only eating crops, destroying buildings, but also attacking people and animals. It is estimated that the annual economic loss caused by RIFA in the United States is as high as 5 billion US dollars, and RIFA has finally ushered in their opponents after raging in the United States for more than 70 years.
The “feud” of red fire ants
The Americans who were tortured by the red fire ants gritted their teeth and brought in another kind of ant from South America. This ant is very small, with six slender legs, a yellow-brown appearance, and an irregular crawling way. Word.
Researchers at the University of Texas have documented a battle between two species of ants. Although the yellow ants are one size smaller than the RIFAs, they are not afraid of the RIFAs and take the initiative to attack, trying to snatch the RIFA’s territory. The red fire ants are used to being domineering in the United States, and naturally they are not afraid, and they spray venom at the yellow ants.
The yellow ant was drenched in venom, but instead of dying immediately like other ants, it quickly bent its body, pressed the end of its abdomen against the upper jaw, and then rubbed the body with the upper jaw repeatedly. The yellow ants who completed this set of actions seemed to have completely ignored the venom of the RIFA, and rushed up again. A strange thing happened. The RIFA fell to the ground and died from the poison!
The scientific name of this yellow ant is called the slender ant, because they move irregularly. The red fire ants have been fighting for thousands of years, and the two kinds of ants are a real “feud”. Moreover, in the battle between the yellow mad ants and the red fire ants, the yellow mad ants often have the upper hand. They are not afraid of the venom of the red fire ants at all. On the contrary, the venom they produce can kill the red fire ants on a large scale.
However, the yellow mad ant can defeat the red fire ant, and it is not a good stubble itself. It is also listed as one of the 100 most destructive invasive species in the world by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and its damage degree is more than that of the red fire ant. And nothing less, the United States went to the doctor in a hurry, it can be said to be shooting itself in the foot.
Equally dangerous yellow ants
Like the red fire ant, the yellow mad ant, one of the world’s top 100 most destructive invasive species, can even suppress the red fire ant. What harm does it have? Crazy yellow ants have appeared in several villages in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, causing hundreds of people to suffer.
The yellow mad ant is different from the red fire ant. It does not like to bite people, so it is not as notorious as the red fire ant. However, the yellow mad ant also has its own unique skill, secreting a kind of formic acid. For humans, although generally not. Deadly, but can cause allergic reactions. Some of these Indian villagers had blisters growing directly on the skin because of the yellow mad ants crawling over his skin.
The formic acid secreted by the yellow ants is even more harmful to other animals, and can even blind them in severe cases. Some livestock raised in the village were attacked by the yellow ants. The villagers also claimed that the yellow ants would also prey on Wild animals such as snakes and rabbits. They will climb up the bodies of these animals in groups, and then spit formic acid. After these animals are poisoned and blind, they often panic, consume a lot of physical strength, and eventually die in the forest, becoming the meal of the yellow mad ants.
The yellow mad ants are numerous and have a wide range of diets. They eat almost anything they see. In addition to eating crops, they also eat the leaves and seeds of many plants and suck their sap. Through collective cooperation, other small insects, spiders, Even larger reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals may become their food, and the impact on the ecology is not weaker than that of the red fire ants. And they also rely on their small size to burrow into the gaps of buildings, run to gnaw on wires and electronic components, and cause various electrical equipment to short-circuit.
The local villagers in India have been afraid to approach the forest, and even dare not bring water to drink, because as long as the yellow mad ants perceive the water source, they will flock to them, and the number of yellow mad ants is still increasing and has spread from the forest. Appears in some villagers’ homes. Experts are also very concerned that the spread of the yellow ants will lead to more serious consequences, which is not without precedent.
Raging Christmas Island, killing 50 million red crabs
There is a small island called Christmas Island in Australia. Every year from October to December, there will be a spectacle. 50 million red crabs will rush to the sea together, dyeing the ground of the island bright red. Many tourists came to watch. However, the number of red crabs used to be much larger, even around 100 million by some estimates.
The culprit responsible for their sharp decline is the yellow mad ants that accompanied the arrival of humans. The formic acid of the yellow mad ants will poison the eyes of the red crabs, causing them to lose their way forward, and eventually dehydrated and die from the sun, and the yellow mad ants will move these red crabs into their nests as food.
Because of the rampant yellow ants, the number of red crabs on the island has been directly halved in just a few decades. Even today, people on Christmas Island are still trying to eliminate the yellow ants, which shows the great harm of the yellow ants.
The secret weapon of yellow crazy ants against red fire ants
Why are yellow crazy ants not afraid of the toxins of red fire ants? Scientists found that when the RIFA sprayed venom on the yellow crazy ants, the yellow crazy ants made a small movement, touching the venom glands at the end of their abdomens with their upper jaws, and then rubbing their entire bodies with their upper jaws.
The researchers chose two groups of yellow mad ants. One group used nail polish to seal the venom glands, and the other group only applied nail polish to the side of their bodies. Then two groups of yellow mad ants were placed on the site of RIFA, and 98% of the yellow mad ants in the group that did not have their venom glands sealed successfully survived, while the yellow ants with their venom glands sealed had a chance of survival. Directly cut in half, only about half survived.
The researchers conducted further research and applied the venom gland secretions of the yellow mad ants to the Argentine ants, which had no resistance to the RIFA, and found that the survival rate of these Argentine ants was greatly improved under the attack of the RIFA. . Experiments have shown that the secretions of the yellow ants can detoxify the toxins of the red fire ants.
However, after examining these secretions, the researchers found that there was basically only formic acid in it, which seemed to be no different from other ants, but the secretions of the yellow crazy ants could make the toxins of the red fire ants ineffective. The researchers could only speculate: maybe It is the yellow mad ants who have been fighting against the red fire ants for thousands of years. The secretion fluid that has evolved can make the venom of the red fire ants lose the enzymatic activity or directly neutralize the toxicity of the venom.
Moreover, in addition to formic acid, the venom of the yellow mad ants also contains a little alkane. The combination of the two magically becomes the nemesis of the RIFA, which can easily poison a large number of RIFAs. In the place where the yellow mad ants appear, the RIFA also needs to Retreat from three homes. It is a pity that the yellow mad ants are invasive species like the red fire ants. Although they fight fiercely, it is the local ecosystem that suffers in the end.
However, in April of this year, another fungus was discovered in the United States that can infect the yellow mad ants, which greatly suppressed the number of yellow mad ants and would not affect other ants. The mind is already preparing for a large-scale experiment. I wonder if it will be self-defeating again this time?
