Army ants are fascinating!
Army ants will sometimes walk in circles until they die. The workers navigate by smelling the pheromone trails of workers in front of them, while laying down pheromones for others to follow. If these trails accidentally loop back on themselves, the ants are trapped. They become a thick, swirling vortex of bodies that resembles a hurricane as viewed from space. They march endlessly until they鈥檙e felled by exhaustion or dehydration. The ants can sense no picture bigger than what鈥檚 immediately ahead. They have no coordinating force to guide them to safety. They are imprisoned by a wall of their own instincts. This phenomenon is called the death spiral. Just like how my country, the United States of America, is responding to COVID19. We. Are. Fucking. Doomed.
