High in the treetops of Borneo, there’s an ant with a deadly secret. It can explode. On the outside, it’s just an inconspicuous, brownish-red ant. It lacks large mandibles, cannot sting, and generally seems like easy pickings for any predator with a rumbly in the tumbly. But when these ants feel threatened, they raise up their rumps as a warning, says Alice Laciny, an entomologist with Natural History Museum Vienna in Austria who described the first new species of exploding ant since 1935 in the journal Zookeys.

Ants have an incredible instinct to help their comrades.

High in the treetops of Borneo, there’s an ant with a deadly secret. It can explode. On the outside, it’s just an inconspicuous, brownish-red ant. It lacks large mandibles, cannot sting, and generally seems like easy pickings for any predator with a rumbly in the tumbly. But when these ants feel threatened, they raise up their rumps as a warning, says Alice Laciny, an entomologist with Natural History Museum Vienna in Austria who described the first new species of exploding ant since 1935 in the journal Zookeys.

David Attenborough is in the Swiss Jura Mountains to discover the secrets of a giant. Beneath his feet lies a vast network of tunnels and chambers, home to a huge empire of ants. It is believed to be one of the largest animal societies in the world, where over a billion ants from rival colonies live in peace. Their harmonious existence breaks many of the rules for both ants and evolution, and raises some important questions. Through winter, spring and into summer, David turns detective to find the answers.

Termite-hunting ants in sub-Saharan Africa treat each other’s wounds by licking them, according to new research. It might sound icky — but the treatment actually saves lives. The ant, called Megaponera analis, specializes in raiding termite nests. These hunts, however, are dangerous: The ants can lose legs or antennas, and sometimes they die. A study last year showed that the ants rescue their injured friends in the battlefield...

It’s called “anting,” and it is weird. By Eric Grundhauser.

Ants didn't take over the world by being stupid and cowardly. Case in point: Rafts of fire ants have been spotted floating around floodwaters in Houston, Texas, colonies banding together to weather super-storm Harvey.

Despite what you might've seen in 1950s monster movies, it's difficult to raise mutant ants. For years biologists have altered the genetics of organisms as varied as mice and rice. Mutant fruit flies are a laboratory staple. But ants' complex life cycle hampered efforts to grow genetically engineered ants — until now.

In the Namib desert where the sands can reach a scorching 70 degrees centigrade, very little is able to survive, but the Hotrod Ant can amazingly thrive and even forage for food. In this tense encounter an unsuspecting Hotrod Ant has strayed in AntLion territory and faces the ultimate test of survival.

Where did these green ants come from? Watch Yellow Crazy Ants as they hunt, subdue, protect, and deal with their food on a daily basis.

The notoriously tough insects are just as dangerous when they're wet as they are dry, according to Alabama officials.

Stilt-walking and half-amputated ants helped scientists solve the mystery of how the insects return straight home, even after extremely twisty trips.

Scientists on the island of Fiji have discovered a type of ant that plants, fertilizes and guards its own coffee crops. The industrious creatures have been perfecting their agricultural know-how for millions of years.

Ants in Fiji farm plants and fertilize them with their poop. And they've been doing this for 3 million years, much longer than humans, who began experimenting with farming about 12,000 years ago.

On Santa Cruz Island, they killed the cows, sheep, and bees. Now it’s time to finish the job. By Ryan Bradley.

Sometimes scientists make discoveries in the strangest of places. Like the belly of a poison frog.

Argentine ants have invaded every continent in just one century.

The distinctive dorsal spines found on two new species of highly adorned Pheidole ants may help to support the ants' massive heads, according to a study published July 27, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Eli Sarnat, Georg Fischer and Evan Economo from the Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, Japan.

After the age of the dinosaurs came to an end some 65 million years ago, a ‘tribe’ of ants known to scientists as the Attini decided to give up life as hunter-gatherers and become farmers instead, according to a new genetic study. It was an astonishing move that humans only managed to accomplish some 10,000 years ago. The ants, native to South America, began farming fungus that grew on decomposing wood, setting off an evolutionary revolution.