Ants Survive Nuclear Bunker Apocalypse by Cannibalizing Their Dead
An abandoned nuclear bunker in western Poland has been home to thousands of worker ants for many years.
The ants, falling through the pipe from the ceiling, were unable to climb out and survived by cannibalizing the bodies of their dead companions due to the unavailability of food.
The primary colony of these ants lived on a mound atop the ventilation pipe of the bunker, and the researchers discovered that the bunker was housing almost a million worker ants.
The nuclear bunker was built by the Soviets during the Cold War to store nuclear weapons and was very near to the German border. It was used until 1992.
The ants constructed their nest over a vertical ventilation pipe, and thousands of worker ants kept falling down the pipe every year.
The researchers found that the ants were living unusually with strange habits, and they hesitated to call them a "colony" because the ants did not have a queen, males, or offspring.
The ants lived in a near-starvation state, and the conditions were harsh, constantly cold, and mostly barren. The researchers found an ant cemetery, and the floor of the adjacent spaces were full of dead ants.
The researchers claimed that the ants continued to grow, and additional ants fell through the open pipe whenever the main colony was active.
A tiny ecosystem was found to be present in the ant graveyard, with mites and a few other invertebrates feeding on the bodies of the dead wood ants, although it is still not clear what the ants were eating.
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