OMG!
I know you guys have read the title so let's get to it!
We've watched ants do some of the most amazing things on this channel, but what you will
see in this video, will blow your mind!
Now, I love watching how ants deal with challenges, and this week, we put our most famous ant
colony on the channel, the Fire Nation, our massive colony of fire ants to the test.
Today we will watch them walk the tight rope.
But make no mistake, AC Family, this is no circus trick.
In today's episode, you will witness a sheer display of ant ingenuity, as we watch how
ants will deal with traveling across a thin invisible nylon wire, and transporting some
food back to the nest from a location on the other side of my ant room.
Each heart-stopping moment will thrill you so keep on watching until the end!
AC Family, hold your breath as our ants of the Fire Nation perform a death-defying feat,
on this episode of the AntsCanada Ant Channel!
Please subscribe to my channel, and hit the bell icon.
Welcome to the AC Family.
Enjoy!
Presenting the Fire Nation today in the Fire Palace.
I can safely say that this fire ant colony of ours has reached the big 1 M. Inside this
rubbermaid bin lives a massive colony of the most aggressive and ravenous ants I have ever
owned.
EVER!
Look at their majestic castles and nest openings that they've created.
I would never dare stick my bare hands into there, as they would instantly be stung by
hundreds of brave and territorial workers.
Every day they eat a lot of roaches and if you look over you will see the jar of jam
they finished just yesterday.
I love watching this colony work, and today I'm going to subject them to a task I have
never before tried.
Today, our ants will walk the ultimate tight rope.
Across to the other side of the room, stands a platform to which our tight rope, invisible
nylon wire, less than a mm in diamter is tied.
To keep the ants from crawling down the wooden stick, a bbq skewer, I've fixated this small
plastic container with baby powder lining the walls.
This will keep the ants from crawling down and escaping.
And now for the incentive, a freshly killed cockroach nymph placed carefully on top.
I wanted to see if these ants would travel across the tight rope, all the way to the
other side of my room, and bring the cockroach all the way back to the nest all while balancing
on this tight rope!
Now let's put this into perspective, AC Family.
If this were to human scale, the ants would have to climb 340 meters up this stick, which
is equivalent to just under 4 football fields, then walk this tight rope for a whopping 1.2
km or just over 13 football fields, grab the massively heavy cockroach, then carry it back
the entire distance of over 17 football fields.
If that's not a feat, I don't know what it!
Equally as impressive is the fact that this tight rope stands, at human scale, 850 m above
the ground, equal to over 9 football fields!
Granted if the ants were to fall, they wouldn't go splat like a human would due to terminal
velocity, but if an ant were to fall and thereby not be able to get back to its colony, it
still would die so technically, there is a potential life-threatening situation there
in case an ant slips and falls.
Alright, so let's get to it, AC Family.
Let's watch the Fire Nation walk the dizzying tight rope all the way across my ant room.
This is going to be epic!
Here we go.
Sticking the stick into the Fire Palace.
It isn't long before ants start to make the climb.
At first, they simply want to check out the stick.
Some ants seem to be much more interested in the nylon wire knot, but inevitably it
wasn't long until one brave ant started to walk the line.
The ant doesn't walk too far, but it does make its way back to tell her sisters that,
"Hey, there's a place you can go this way..."
This in turn starts a chain reaction of brave ants, venturing out on to the tight rope,
slowly and gradually walking further and further, turning back each time to inform the colony
of where they had gone.
It seems the Fire Nation is now aware of this new foreign object in the Fire Palace, and
more importantly of the new bridge to somewhere.
Notice the ants moving quickly within the tubes.
Wow!
Check out this ant.
It's determined, but it then gets a bit insecure and turns back.
I don't mind this because every time an ant returns, it brings with it news of where it
has been, and I know it won't be long before more and more ants will attempt to walk the
tight rope.
Finally, one ant possesses the guts to travel further than any ant had gone before.
Wow!
It reaches the halfway point, then turns back.
Guys, this is crazy.
Imagine being this ant?
Balancing on the wire this entire way.
The idea makes me super nervous.
Our incentive lays there, awaiting for the first ant to reach it.
Over time, more and more ants begin to travel the tight rope.
Let's watch to see who will make it to the end.
It seems most ants are only able to make it to the midway point before turning back.
Almost 2 hours later, I finally spotted an ant that dared to venture past the halfway
point.
This ant was the bravest so far.
It crawled and grasped for the wire as it traveled upside down closer and closer to
our end platform.
Wow!
It's getting so close!
And just when it seemed it was going to reach the end, it turns back to tell the rest of
the colony how far it traveled.
Watching this was just unreal!
It kept me on the edge of my seat.
More ants are on the way.
Will these ants be the ones to reach the end.
No, they too turn back.
I began to wonder if any of the ants would ever reach the end platform, but just as I
began to have my doubts, one brave worker finally approached the end platform.
I held my breath.
And, yes, our very first worker makes it across to the other side.
It stops to smell the cockroach with its antennae, but first decides to take a trip downwards
to check out the area.
It isn't able to go far of course, because it couldn't climb past the baby powder barrier,
so it eventually makes it's way back up to the cockroach.
It suddenly shows signs of excitement.
What she is doing now is she is covering the entire area with pheromones indicating that
there is food here so her follow sisters know what to expect when they arrive, and speaking
of which, here comes a second ant to make the death-defying walk to the end platform.
They instantly make contact.
Many ants are making their journey across the tight rope now.
More ants make it to the end platform, and it isn't long before a mini party develops.
Check out the end platform 30 minutes after.
Wow!
Many members have completed the journey now, and many more still on their way!
The entire colony is now aware of this mysterious, fabled place with a delicious cockroach, so
more and more ants are seen embarking on their tight rope journeys.
The sight was truly magnificent to witness.
But now the question was, how were they going to deal with bringing this heavy cockroach
back to the nest.
I was totally not prepared for the idea they came up with!
All night, I stayed up watching and filming the entire Fire Nation.
Were they actually going to carry it across?
Suddenly, the ants showed evidence of a brilliant idea.
The Fire Nation began breaking up the cockroach into pieces.
Breaking the cockroach into smaller pieces for transport back to the nest was ingenious!
It meant the ants wouldn't need to carry and maneuver the entire cockroach across the entire
distance on this tight rope.
Had they done that, they truly risked completely falling or dropping their find.
And surprisingly, not a single ant had fallen yet.
These ants were tight rope walking pros!
Check out how the larger ants hang upside down while the smaller ones are able to walk
on top of it.
The ants began to carry the cockroach piece by piece ever so skillfully all the way across
to the other side back to the nest.
Watch how amazingly this ant manages to avoid crashing into other ants while en route.
What we are witnessing here, AC Family, is truly a magnificent display of balance and
strength.
All night the ants continued to bring pieces back to the nest, while more and more ants
made the distant trek across the tight rope to help with breaking up the cockroach and
transporting the pieces back home.
The next morning, I saw the ants bringing back the final piece of the cockroach across
the tight rope.
It was just brilliant and beautiful.
Watching the ants do this truly showed me the hidden powers of ants, how they were able
to travel on the thinnest of bridges to food, and how their problem solving skills can reason
breaking up a cockroach would be better than transporting the entire cockroach back to
the nest, which had this been entirely on the ground and not high up in the air, the
ants would have done instead!
So, AC Fam, do you guys think our other colonies would be able to pull this off?
Do you think they would do the same thing the Fire Nation did?
Let me know in the comments section which colony of ours on this channel you would like
to possibly see walk the tight rope, too.
Today, I was truly inspired by the magic of ant teamwork, their bravery to explore what
lays beyond, the sheer awesomeness of their strategy, and the simplicity of their execution.
Ants truly are some of the most amazing creatures we have on the planet.
Thanks for watching another episode of the AntsCanada Ant Channel, and until next week,
it's ant love forever!
Wow!
So did this impress you, AC Family?
It sure was pretty cool, right?
AC Inner Colony, I've placed a hidden video for you here if you just want to watch extended
play footage of the fire ants walking the tight rope and transporting pieces of the
cockroach back to the nest.
And now it's time for the AC Question of the Week.
Last week, we asked:
What type of acid is found in the defensive fluids of the
millipedes in our last video?
Congratulations to Tristan Indrayanto who correctly answered Hydrochloric Acid.
Congratulations Tristan you just won a free ant t-shirt from our shop.
And for this week's AC Question of the Week, we ask:
Fill in the blank: If an ant were to fall from the tight rope, the ant would not
die at landing due to ______.
Leave your answer in the comments section and you could win some free test tubes from
our shop, perfect for housing your newly caught queen ants.
Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we release a brand new ant video every Saturday
8AM EST.
It would mean a lot to me if you could LIKE & SHARE this video if you enjoyed it!
It's ant love forever!