Red Ants

Discovery Channel Online News, October 14, 1998
Ants Invade Colombia

A particularly tough and aggressive strain of red ants has destroyed nearly 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) of sugar cane, cassava and corn crops in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Called "crazy ants" by farmers in Colombia's Santander and Boyaca provinces, the ants are especially hard to kill because they make their nests under stones and branches, and beneath the tiles of farmhouse roofing. Beyond the crops already destroyed, the ants threaten to consume another 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) of farmland. Many of the region's farmers, powerless to protect their land from the insect invasion, have abandoned their properties. The ants are advancing 220 yards (200 meters) each month, according to an official from the Institute of Agricultural Colonization (ICA). The ants also attack animals, clinging to their nostril hairs and often causing death by asphyxiation.