Praying Mantis Decapitated by Ant Swarm | Superswarm | BBC Earth

in defense of the trail the ants take no prisoners but even an innocuous looking insect can be surprisingly dangerous the soil millipede is killed quickly but the soldiers highly sensitive antennae immediately reveal that it's poisonous the message soon reaches nearby ants they know exactly what to do they gather lumps of mud and bury the problem with the millipede out of harm's way the trail can safely continue its journey but more dangers await the trailblazers a praying mantis plucks unsuspecting ants from the column he seems to have the upper hand but the ants he kills send out a dying message reacting to this pheromone reinforcements arrive the mantis is a deadly predator but the ants know exactly what they're dealing with one soldier grabs the mantis jaws stopping it from doing any more damage other ants swarm over the mantis butchering it with surgical precision the mantis fate is sealed by a clinical decapitation [Music] the eggs and pupae are taken into the new nest here they're safe the millions of interlocking ants that make up the nest superstructure create an impenetrable barrier [Music] only from the outside is it possible to get an idea of the nest's huge scale [Music] literally millions of individuals form a nervous network that communicates using pheromones [Music] as ants pass messages to each other they effectively act like brain cells through the millions of interconnections they arrive at a decision that works for the benefit of the colony [Music] like human brain cells individual ants are not intelligent but the links between them create a mind an ant super brain deep inside is the queen her role is to replenish the colony by laying two million eggs a month [Music] she is merely an egg-laying machine under the collective command of all the ants that make up the mind of the hive the ants create a different kind of intelligence a brain that exists outside any single body [Music] you

Channel: BBC Earth

Views: 3,083,575

Keywords: bbc documentary, bbc, bbcearth, bbc earth, killer ants eat animals, killer ants attack, killer ants vs scorpion, scorpion, scorpion attacking prey, ant swarm, driver ants, driver ant colony, animal swarms, insect swarms, animal fights, animal hunts, ant documentary, soldier ants, army ants, praying mantis vs, praying mantis

Id: -oJRkymiC-0

Length: 4min 53sec (293 seconds)

Published: Thu May 06 2021