Ants are Amazing

I spent many an afternoon during my childhood battling ants in my backyard. Every week a new crop of fire ant mounds would emerge, bringing with them gabillions of stinging ants that made walking around barefoot in my yard (which should be every Floridian's birthright) a hazardous and potentially scratchy endeavor. But rarely, in all the years I spent despising ants, did I stop to consider how cool they were, which is exactly what these videos allow me to do.

A man let a colony of ants live inside his flatbed scanner for five years. Every so often, he would scan them. This is a film he made of the results. (Via Boingboing.)

ANTS in my scanner > a five years time-lapse! from françois vautier on Vimeo.

These Amazonian army ants are the stuff of nightmares.

If you think ants are scary just marching around on the forest floor, imagine going through this indigenous Amazonian manhood initiation.

On some level, ants are gross and scary -- there's no getting around it. But watch this video and see if you don't agree that ants are truly amazing creatures, as well. A team spends weeks pouring concrete into an ant colony and meticulously excavates the giant structure below, which is likened, not inappropriately, to an engineering achievement on par with the Great Wall of China.