Do ants prepare for rain?

* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
09 June 2023 Friday 16:43
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Do ants prepare for rain?

* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia

I have captured this series of photographs for Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia in Massoteres, in the Segarra region, where it seems that the ants are preparing their nests for the rain.

The State Meteorological Agency has denied that the end of the drought in Spain can be predicted by observing the behavior of ants, a hoax of the "Forer effect" that had spread through social networks.

But it is true that it has been proven that some species of ants adjust their activities or modify their nests when the rain approaches, such as covering the entrance holes with small stones or earth, as we can see in this series of photographs.

The ants are far from aquatic, so on rainy days they take refuge in the underground chambers of their nests and wait for the storm to pass.

In this sense, it must be taken into account that an anthill is a refuge, formed by a set of tunnels, entrances and mounds (commonly made of earth or clay), which are progressively built by the ants with the same earth that they extract from the ground.