from a distance an anthill might seem
calm and peaceful but if you look closer
you'll see a bustling society organized
along marshal lines and if a pair of
these gets too close to one another it
usually ends in violence two of a kind
fighting for territory in the Ural
Mountains of western Switzerland the
forests are home to a myriad of wood ant
nests each competing for territory and
survival
each would anthill houses a colony of
several hundred thousand worker ants and
up to a hundred Queens the division of
labor in these colonies is very strict
with the workers in charge of keeping
the nest in shape and defending their
territory
the colonies compete aggressively with
one another in springtime the ants wake
from winter hibernation and get back to
work during this time the frontlines of
neighboring territories have become
blurred so the two colonies have to
re-establish their borders
in the first stage workers from both
nests spread out to assess the ground
when Scouts from different nests meet
they immediately recognize that they're
from rival families they rush back to
their nests to sound the alarm
within minutes both colonies know that
territory on the frontier is being
disputed armies of soldiers assembled to
charge the enemy this means war and it's
a dirty one the weapons being used are
chemical formic acid
[Music]
the ants sport acid from the tips of
their abdomens targeting their enemy now
they have to bite their opponents to get
it beneath the outer shell and dissolve
their internal organs
several aunts work in a team to try to
hold down an opponent by clamping their
jaws around a leg or antennae
it can take up to seven ants to subdue a
single enemy so the size of an army
definitely matters
[Music]
as soon as a team has an aunt pinned
down
one soldier uses its mandibles to cut
open sections of the victims exoskeleton
exposing the insides
[Music]
an attacker brings its abdomen forward
and squirts acid onto the victim
a battlefield can look very messy to our
eyes but each colony carries its own
chemical badge invisible to us it's
obvious to the ants sensitive antennae
by touching each other they can confirm
whose side they're on
[Music]
Scout's climb high onto strategic
vantage points across the battlefield
they're on the lookout monitoring
progress to see where help is needed
then they descend quickly to rejoin the
battle
[Music]
after a while the entire meadow smells
of formic acid
[Music]
these wars can continue for more than a
week with several thousand soldiers
involved as well as thousands of
casualties
[Music]
both sides will suffer heavy losses
[Music]
to compensate for the casualties the
ants
capture the bodies of their victims and
carry them back to the nest there along
with their relatives they will feast on
the carcasses
for the ants in the meadow it's been a
costly start to the year but it's worth
it to have their borders established to
the rest of the season so they can
recover their strength until next year