Ants as Fluids: Physics-Inspired Biology

TL;DR

This paper explores how fire ant colonies exhibit fluid-like behaviors such as spreading and flowing, inspired by physics principles, to understand their collective movement and cohesion under stress.

Contribution

It introduces a physics-inspired framework to model and analyze ant colony behaviors as fluid dynamics phenomena, revealing new insights into collective biological systems.

Findings

Ant colonies behave similarly to fluid flows in various scenarios.

Ants can maintain cohesion under stress by emulating fluid behaviors.

Fluid dynamics principles can model collective ant behavior effectively.

Abstract

Fire ants use their claws to grip diverse surfaces, including each other. As a result of their mutual adhesion and large numbers, ant colonies flow like inanimate fluids. In this sequence of films, we demonstrate how ants behave similarly to the spreading of drops, the capillary rise of menisci, and gravity-driven flow down a wall. By emulating the flow of fluids, ant colonies can remain united under stressful conditions.