 down a dirt road with several students collecting insects. Collecting was not that good but suddenly hoards of insects, spiders and even a few scorpions and lizards started pouring out from the underbrush across the road we were on. After a few moments of excellent collecting, we decided to investigate the reason for this windfall. And, as you might suspect, there was a column of army ants moving through a gully to the side of the road. Of course all the animals in its path were attempting to flee. On the following evening a column of army ants raided the students' cabin. The students were not awakened, but the following morning they were very disappointed to see that the army ants had stolen most of the several thousand insects they had collected and mounted on pins over the past week. Shortly thereafter, I decided to test the reports that army ants pose no threat to humans. There was a column moving through our pension grounds--so I placed my foot directly in their path. They merely ignored this obstacle and marched over and around it.
While the army ants are primarily found in the New World tropics the driver ants are found in the tropics of Africa. Both types are very similar as far as their behavior and biology is concerned. One distinct difference is that while large colonies of army ants may number one million colonies of driver ants can reach 200 million. With such huge numbers they present more of a threat to humans and other animals. There have been human deaths recorded from the raids of these critters (mostly infants). In these cases death has typically occurred from suffocation as a result of the ants entering and filling the lungs.
The mating behavior of these ants is especially strange. The males are to drawn to the foraging columns supposedly looking for a mate. Instead of finding a queen the sterile workers quickly swarm the males and immediately tear their wings off. Then they carry them off and basically imprison them until a potential new queen is available.
Bullet Ants. This ant is primarily