Fire Ant Mating Flight

Following up the post from last Friday, here’s is some extremely dramatic and engaging cell phone footage of a mating flight of fire ants on a stump outside our lab.

Video courtesy Collin McMichael.  And yes, that is us having an engaging discussion about why this colony has not succumbed to our regular fire ant harvests:

Alison:  That is quite the flight.

Collin: I’m taking a video.

Alison: I guess when you nest in the base of a stump nobody messes with you.

Collin: Nope, no one digs you up.

Alison: Yeah. Can’t get mowed.

Gripping stuff.

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PS:  I have updated my “Things That Are Not Fire Ants” page with 4 new images and 14 new pest control companies.  Clearly I am enjoying the Google “search by image” tool.