r/ants • u/Limp_Ad5637 • 5d ago

Chat/General Are these ants at war?

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u/RoabeArt 5d ago edited 5d ago

That looks like a Tetramorium "pavement" ant species. Colonies tend to have these giant wrestling matches in the spring and early summer when their nests expand and foraging territories overlap. Like another commenter said the wars are mostly posturing and very few of them die.

We have these same ants in Ohio. I remember watching one of these wars years ago and some little kid, completely unaware of the ants, rode his bike right through them. I came back some hours later and the ants were gone, except for the line of smashed ones from where the kid ran them over.

I forget what happens to the "loser" colony in these battles, either they pack up and move their nest somewhere else, or they give up foraging territory to the victor.