This army is in formation.
Thousands of fire ants have been observed drifting on floodwaters throughout the Texas city, creating rafts with their bodies, and local residents are now noticing this unusual behavior.
KXAN Austin posted a video on X showing a clip filmed by Austinite David Todd, featuring the ants huddled together in a large mass in the waters of Lake Travis.
X users weighed in on the scary sight.
“A floating ball of pure hate,” one observed.
“I’ve experienced them more than just seeing them. I’ve encountered them at night while wading to the ramp on my dock when the lake level rises quickly,” someone else commented. “It’s unpleasant.”
“Bring out the torch,” someone else suggested.
The pesky bugs, which can cause painful stings, are rife in Texas. But when their underground nests flood, they sink their teeth into each other, interlock their limbs and create rafts to stay alive.
“It’s called a self-organizing or self-assembling process. And it’s something only social insects do,” Ed LeBrun, a research scientist at the University of Texas’ Brackenridge Field Lab, told the outlet.
“There are a lot of other structures that ants make in a similar way. For example, army ants will make bridges across rivers.”
