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BAD NEWS, EVERYONE. It’s Flying Ant Day. And everybody’s celebrating.*
Large areas of Ireland are currently being terrorised by swarms of dozy flying ants that land on you, shed their manky wings everywhere, and are completely impervious to being swatted away.
Even our nation’s leafiest suburbs are not safe from this menace.
All over the country, people are being forced to walk around with their lips gummed together to avoid the little b*****ds getting in their mouths.
And in the UK, families have reportedly been forced from their homes.
Sorry.
It’s actually because flying ants are “single-purpose sexual missiles”.
Yep. Flying Ant Day is linked to the way ants reproduce and spread. In fact, it’s technically known as “nuptial flight” – which sounds very romantic, but is really about ants growing wings and landing on you.
During nuptial flight, ants sprout wings and scatter from their colony to try and found new ant nests in the surrounding area. Male ants – which according to Bert Holldobler, author of The Ants, are “quickly converted into single-purpose sexual missiles” – mate with the new queens in flight.
The new queens then land, shed their wings (possibly all over you) and try and start a new colony.
Very possibly, yes.
It’s to do with this humid weather we’re having. When the weather conditions are right, numerous ant colonies swarm simultaneously – this increases the chances of the ants meeting and inbreeding with other ants from different colonies.
Exactly.
Well, not much. It will end by itself in a day or two.
Some people are taking heart from the fact that humanity’s old enemies the seagulls are on the case. They love to eat flying ants.
But the bad news is, seagulls are thought to get ‘drunk’ when they binge on the insects.
Fraid so. Some ants’ bodies contain formic acid, which some biologists have suggested could contribute to loud and excitable behaviour from the birds.
“Some of the slightly odd behaviour we are seeing could be as a result of these ants – it could leave the gulls slightly drunk,” Dr Rebecca Nesbit told the Telegraph last year.
It’s possible because we know that some ants produce formic acid, and it could be having an effect. The gulls can also get very excited and loud when they eat the ants, so that could be a contributing factor.
Basically, yes. See you Thursday or thereabouts?
*Everybody who is an ant.
Written by Michael Freeman and originally published on DailyEdge.ie
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This is what happens when you have summer movie releases called “Ant Man” First it was minions on the Swords road and now this
Independence day 2 being released next summer……..
Tell that to Scotland
How did they ages so much in one term lol.
Peter I am waiting on the new Debbie Does Dallas, so I can have a laugh at that too lol. Merkel does Ireland, made me sick…
Thank the lord for seagulls. Hoovering them up on roads in swords and artane the last two days.
I for one welcome our new ant overlords
Ye think this is bad? Wait until Dec shows up!
It will be over by Thursday. What an ANTiclimax
Try riding a motorcycle when it’s like this!!
Visor up?
This article was ant-ertaining.
Can I get pregnant from flying ants and what protection is best?
Sounds like coppers on a Friday
Wow – you stole your joke from the article – well done.
I was sicken when u seen a ton of them up against my drain and wall so I sprayed them with vinegar and into shore and their home to, haven’t seen any since Friday! Horrible little things ugh
Normal ants everywhere as well, funny how they sell ant killer, I use kettles of hot water to get rid of them… Yes I am an ant mass murderers… Ant Man and the Kettle of Boiling Water…
There’s a huge market of poisonous products for situations such as this but I would highly recommend natural predators for over populated ecosystem imbalance problems. eg. wasps, ladybirds and other beetles for greenfly, hedgehogs and badgers for slugs and snails, bats for flying insects.
A kettle of boiling water BI, Might work with Hedge Funders as well lol.
Yes I just released a horde of badgers into our toilet to kill the sudden infestation of flying ants…….. Do you know what kills badgers btw??
Those wings falling off are a bit like all the promises made pre-election that were dropped once the current Gov got elected! Come the next one “Won’t Get Fooled Again”!
Sounds like the ants have lost the run of themselves
seagulls watch out you got completion now ………….
I had an uncontrollable yawn yesterday when I was out in it…..didn’t work out well!!
Had them in my garden yesterday evening but they are far later than normal and there were far fewer of them – must be something to do with that fecking breeze that won’t leave us alone!
In the name of the late, the great, JC. Ants are doing their annual mating and this is a news story? Shazbat.
Perfect summary of them through the first paragraph.
Not long before they are our Overlords.
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