Floating Ant Islands Seen After Floods In South Carolina

As South Carolina recovers from heavy rain and flooding , one insect is showing off its clever strategy for survival.

Fox Carolina’s Adrian Acosta recorded footage of a group of fire ants clinging together  to form a life raft as they float on the water.

Acosta said he initially thought he was looking at a pile of mud, but closer examination revealed a swarm of ants.

The phenomenon is, in fact, a common survival tactic for fire ants faced with flood conditions.

As researchers studying the behavior  in 2011 explained in National Geographic: 

In less than two minutes the ants had linked "hands" to form a floating structure that kept all the insects safe. Even the ants down below can survive this way, thanks to tiny hairs on the ants' bodies that trap a thin layer of air.

A reporter from NBC affiliate WSAV spotted and recorded another cluster of ants performing the buoyant feat  in Dorchester County, South Carolina. 

In addition to the usual predators, the ant-rafts need to keep an eye out for soap , Live Science explains. That's because they rely on the surface tension of water to float, and soap will lower that surface tension, causing the ants to fall in.

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