How Hot Is Too Hot For Ants?
WouterDepending on your species, ants can survive a wide range of temperatures. While most live around six days, some species can endure an hour at 54 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ants can also survive high temperatures if they are in a moist environment. They are also attracted to warm temperatures. They can survive in the desert for up to 55 degrees Celsius. However, they will only come out of their nests when hungry.
A team of researchers, led by Columbia Engineering assistant professor of applied physics Xiao-Bo Yu, discovered that ants use a cooling technique that uses mid-infrared light. This allows the ants to exchange heat with the cooler surroundings. The hairs on the ants’ bodies are triangular in shape and are highly reflective in the mid-infrared spectrum.
A key part of the cooling technique involves the ants’ triangular cross-section hairs. These hairs are arranged parallel to the ants’ skin, and are highly emissive in the mid-infrared spectrum.
The triangular shape of the hairs allows the ants to offload the excess heat from their bodies. The hairs also help the ants stay cool because they reflect sunlight at shorter wavelengths.
Scientists wanted to know how hot is too hot for ants, and whether or not they can survive heat. They decided to study how well city ants could handle heat.
Using leaf-cutter ants, researchers found that they were capable of foraging at a temperature four degrees above the thermal cap. In fact, the workers were carrying leaves and twigs to a fungal garden. The researchers then chilled the ants to 0degC, and measured how quickly they recovered.
