An army ant swarm can kill up to 500,000 animals in one day
They build no nests and roam in groups of millions, and some hunt in columns 100 metres long.
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell · The World War of the Ants – The Army AntAn army ant hunting party can wipe out as many as half a million creatures in a single day.
There are about 200 species of army ants. Unlike most ants, they build no nests and live a nomadic life in groups that can number in the millions.
On a hunt, some species move in marching lines reaching 100 metres in length. They kill and immediately dismember any insect or small backboned animal they encounter.
Most army ants are unremarkable on their own, but together they win by sheer weight of numbers, surrounding the prey animals they catch and pulling them apart.
Questions people ask
What kind of vertebrates can army ants kill?
Yes, but only very small ones, such as lizards, frogs, or nestling birds. Army ants do not hunt by overpowering large prey individually. They win by surrounding it with thousands of workers that bite, hold on, and pull it apart.
What do they do with all those animals they kill?
They eat nearly everything they kill, including other ants, termites, wasps, and the larvae they steal from raided colonies. The prey is dismembered on the spot and carried back to feed the vast, mobile colony, including its queen and young.