One more reason to fear fire ants: they build tunnels to maximize speed in their nests.

Photo: flickr/AZAdamHow fast can fire ants swarm out of their nests to come terrorize your worst nightmares, you ask? Nine body lengths per second. Nine! If I were to travel at nine body lengths per second, I would be zooming along at well over 30 mph. And this is not on an open road, it is in the complex, crowded, and often vertical tunnels inside the nest. So how do they do it without falling? According to this study, they not only use all of their appendages (including their antennae!) to brace themselves on their tunnel walls to prevent falling when they slip, but they also build their tunnels at the exact diameter that allows them to do this most effectively! (Be sure to check out the video below of the ants catching themselves after the researchers shake them to make them fall.)Climbing, falling, and jamming during ant locomotion in ...