Scientists pumped cement into an abandoned anthill and discovered an underground metropolis (6 photos + 1 video)
Category: Archeology, PEGI 0+
24 January 2024
Ants are incredibly smart, armed with super strength and amazing teamwork skills. None of their insect cousins can compare to them. Is it any wonder that an army of ants managed to build an entire metropolis underground? 
Watch this video. It may quite surprise you.
Scientists have discovered a complex underground network created by ants. To do this, about ten tons of cement were pumped into an abandoned anthill over the course of three days. The experiment was conducted in Brazil.
A team of specialists led by Professor Louis Forgy was amazed by the complexity of the “city-state”, which has underground highways connecting the main chambers of the colony.
Scientists have discovered that a community of ants, dubbed a "superorganism" due to their clever coordination with each other, have created their own metropolis eight meters underground.
Dubbed “the ant equivalent of the Great Wall of China,” this complex network included main routes, side roads, and shortcuts for the ants to navigate.
Honestly, humans have a lot to learn from ants in terms of teamwork.
This stunning discovery was captured in the documentary Ants! The Secret Power of Nature,” which talks about the fact that ants have much greater capabilities than one might expect.
The narrator explains: “The paths branch and lead to numerous mushroom gardens and garbage pits. The tunnels are designed to provide good ventilation and the shortest routes of movement. Everything looks like it was designed by an architect, but of course it wasn't. This colossal and complex city was created by the collective will of an ant colony - a superorganism."
The structure occupies a huge area of 50 square meters and extends eight meters deep into the Earth. This means that the ant colony moved 40 tons of soil to create its underground home.
The narrator continues: “Billions of ant loads of soil were brought to the surface, each load weighing four times as much as a worker. Translated into human language, the soil was raised to the surface by one kilometer.”
These amazing insects can carry loads 10-50 times their own weight.
Ants really put many exercisers to shame - especially since the neck joint of a field ant can withstand pressure 5,000 times its own weight. These little laborers are mechanical systems that amaze the imagination.
