Bloodthirsty Ants Decapitate Queen | Empire Of The Desert Ants | BBC Earth

by pooling their resources the Queens have survived their first major challenge but this coalition can't last tensions are already on the rise of the Queens jostle for position within the royal court the weaker Crouch submissively before the more dominant including the founding Queen so begins the delicate maneuvering that will soon take on a deadly significance those at the bottom of the hierarchy have little chance of surviving the coming trials another struggle for control is also beginning above-ground the corral nest is not the only one in Horseshoe Canyon the desert floor is littered with similar sized colonies and there's not enough room for all of them now the darker side of the honey ants emerges it's time for the corral colony to mount a preemptive strike on its nearest neighbors this killing spree continues through the summer until a Corral colony has eliminated all the other new nests in their immediate neighborhood the foundations of the Empire have been laid underground to events have taken a darker turn one of the Queen's lies dead in the Royal chamber it's not clear why but the workers have started singling out the weaker Queens for special attention at first it's all very subtle one isn't fed so often or cleaned as diligently but then the workers start bullying and harassing their chosen victim finally it spills over into direct attack and the workers tear the chosen queen to pieces nothing can go to waste even a royal caucus workers carry hungry larvae over to feast on the dead Queen including many that must have been her own offspring [Music] as the week's pass the revolution continues only the most dominant Royals seem immune to attack they just watch and wait as the workers go about their gruesome business [Music]

Channel: BBC Earth

Views: 2,322,529

Keywords: bbc documentary, bbc, bbcearth, bbc earth, natural world, empire of the desert ants, insects, desert honey ant, ant colony, ant nest, natural history, bbc ants, ant queen killed, ant queen, ant facts, facts about ants

Id: qLQLKT8enys

Length: 3min 52sec (232 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 04 2019