3D rendering of C. atratus guiding itself with its legs as it falls... backward.
Ants do well in rain forest canopies. Edward O. Wilson once catalogued
43 species of ants in a single Peruvian tree, which is "about equal to the entire ant fauna of the British isles." But what if they fall? Ending up on the ground—far removed in distance and ecosystem niche—could be fatal. So hundreds of species of canopy-dwelling ants evolved the ability to direct their fall in a number of impressive ways, as a post
in The Why Files explains. For example, the gliding ant
can:
Fly backwards, even though backward movement is rare among animals (house cats and hummingbirds being among the exceptions)
Control their position with their hind legs, flipping backwards at first, then rotating in the last 3 to 5 milliseconds to smoothly land on its legs, its head pointed down
...
