Ants That Love Electronics

July 7, 2020 8:50pm IST

    Yes, you read the title right! These ants, or to be precise, Raspberry Crazy Ants, seems to be attracted to electrical equipments. Nylanderia fulva which is an ant found in South America is not called “crazy” due to their weird infatuation for our gadgets, but because of their random, nonlinear movements when looking for food, as opposed to the orderly formations of other ants who line up to transport food to the hive.

These crazy ants were found to be driving out the previous ant invaders called the “fire ants”. This does sound like a good thing, but it actually is worse! The people living in the invaded areas tell that they want their very polite fire ants back. Fire ants are innocent due to several reasons like; they live in your yard, form mounds and stay there, and only interact with you if you step on their mound. The problem with Rasberry Crazy Ants is that they are not confined to the forests or yards, but their love for electrical equipments and household devices often bring them to the residential areas. They, then, start invading the houses and become the unwanted guests of your house.

The exact reason behind their attraction for electronic gadgets is still unknown, but some theories state that it is because some ant species are capable of detecting electromagnetic fields and may even use the Earth’s magnetic field as a directional cue as they search for food or nest sites. Their attraction to man-made electrical devices may be an accidental evolutionary by-product of this natural ability.

When the crazy ants invade an electrical box, they do not actually eat the equipment. Their jaws are not strong enough to cut through metal wires, but they chew through the softer insulation around them, exposing the live wires and causing short circuit. Obviously, the ant is killed by the live wiring, but the story doesn’t end here. As they die in a puff of smoke, they send out a chemical signal (pheromone) that calls other ants to electric source to avenge their death. This leads to a cascade resulting in a buildup of dead worker ants causing further problems for the electronic devices. These ants can form balls that can short out systems. They also die in droves and their carcasses can cause overheating and mechanical failures.

These ants have even attacked the Johnson Space Center, though NASA quickly took action to prevent any damage to their electrical systems.The crazy ants also kill other insects in the area, hence becoming a threat to the biological richness. Traditional ant traps don't seem to work on these ants, and they form super colonies which can quickly re-infest anywhere that's been treated with insecticides. These ants are difficult to control because they are ready to abandon their homes and find new ones at a moment’s notice.