According to a University of Texas study, Crazy Ants may become the dominant invasive ant species displacing Fire Ants in the near future.
The ants secrete a compound that neutralizes the venom used by Fire ants. The venom of the fire ant is very powerful and even fatal. It is two to three times as toxic as DDT on a per weight basis. But because crazy ants have a natural defense against the venom and their sheer numbers, they can overcome the species in a head to head confrontation.
Crazy ants gained attention when Texas exterminator Tom Raspberry noticed these ants in a Pasadena chemical plant in 2002. He noticed that the species seem to keep multiplying even after extermination.
The ant colonies seem to have an unexplained attraction to electrical devices. Crazy ants are known to damage devices such as televisions and laptops. The ants will stream inside the device until they form a single moving mass that completes a circuit and shorts it.
They take over an area through sheer numbers. These ants can overtake beehives and destroy the colonies. Bird chicks are smothered and struggle to hatch. In South America, where scientists now believe the ants originated, they have been known to obstruct the nasal cavities of chickens and asphyxiate the birds. They even swarm into cows’ eyes.
With their natural defense against fire ants, scientists believe that crazy ants will displace fire ants in the Southern United States.
