In this clip from the BBC’s Swarm: Nature’s Incredible Invasions, narrated by David Tennant, a praying mantis meets a cruel end when it gets caught up in an ant swarm.
A colony of ants is not an opponent you want to mess with – especially when it’s on a mission.
“In defence of the trail, the ants take no prisoners – but even an innocuous-looking insect can be surprisingly dangerous,” narrates Tennant.
The first enemy the ants face is a soil millipede – it’s killed quickly, and the soldier ants’ highly sensitive antennae determine that it’s poisonous. This is swiftly communicated to the rest of the colony, and the ants gather lumps of mud to bury the problem.
But more danger awaits. A praying mantis, a deadly predator, manages to pluck unsuspecting ants from the colony to enjoy them as its next meal. But even faced with a worthy opponent like the praying mantis, the ants know what to do.
“The ants he kills send out a dying message. Reacting to this pheromone, reinforcements arrive,” says Tennant.
One soldier grabs the mantis’ jaws, and the rest swarm over the predator, killing it with morbidly surgical precision.
“The mantis’ fate is sealed by a clinical decapitation,” concludes Tennant.
The ants can go on, carrying their eggs and pupae into the new nest, a superstructure made up of millions of interlocking ants creating an impenetrable barrier.
Top image: Close-up of a green praying mantis on a leaf. Credit: Molakaliva/Getty Images
