During times of flood, certain species of ants work together to build rafts out of... themselves! Not only that, previous work has also shown that some ants use highly buoyant eggs and larvae at the base of the raft to help keep the entire contraption afloat. Here, scientists from UC Riverside tracked individual ants during multiple rounds of raft building and discovered that individual ants return to their same position on Anty McAntface during sequential floods, much like members of a ship's crew manning their stations. As the short clip below produced by UC Riverside says: "All Ants on Deck!"
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDWMWLqm4zI[/embed]
Ant workers exhibit specialization and memory during raft formation.
"By working together, social insects achieve tasks that are beyond the reach of single individuals. A striking example of collective behaviour is self-assembly, a process in which individuals link their bodies together to form structures such as chains, ladders, walls ...
