Army ant feeding swarm. A swarm of worker army ants migrating over the leaflitter of a rainforest floor, have attacked and are eating a Gryllid cricke

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Army ant feeding swarm. A swarm of worker army ants migrating over the leaflitter of a rainforest floor, have attacked and are eating a Gryllid cricket. Some workers (at left) are carrying the larvae of their own colony. These aggressive insects stage massive raids in pursuit of arthropod prey. They have no permanent nest, but make temporary 'bivouacs'. When eggs are laid by the queen, the ants return to the same bivouac each night until the eggs hatch. The colony then enters a nomadic phase while the larvae are developing; the nomadic phase ends when the larvae pupate and the next generation of eggs are laid. Photographed in Costa Rica, Central America.

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Size: 3705px × 2568px
Photo credit: © GEORGE BERNARD/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: animal, ant, ants, army, cooperation, feeding, insect, insecta, invertebrate, invertebrates, larva, nature, swarm, wildlife, zoology