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It’s June, just after a heavy rainfall,

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and the sky is filling with creatures 
we wouldn’t normally expect to find there.

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At first glance,
this might be a disturbing sight.

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But for the lucky males and females 
of Solenopsis invicta,

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otherwise known as fire ants, 
it’s a day of romance.

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This is the nuptial flight,

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when thousands of reproduction-capable 
male and female ants,

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called alates, 
take wing for the first and last time.

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But even for successful males 
who manage to avoid winged predators,

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this mating frenzy will prove lethal.

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And for a successfully mated female, 
her work is only beginning.

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Having secured a lifetime supply of sperm 
from her departed mate,

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our new queen must now single-handedly 
start an entire colony.

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Descending to the ground,

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she searches for a suitable spot 
to build her nest.

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Ideally, she can find somewhere 
with loose, easy-to-dig soil—

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like farmland 
already disturbed by human activity.

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Once she finds the perfect spot, 
she breaks off her wings—

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creating the stubs 
that establish her royal status.

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Then, she starts digging 
a descending tunnel ending in a chamber.

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Here the queen begins laying her eggs, 
about ten per day,

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and the first larvae hatch within a week.

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Over the next three weeks,

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the new queen relies on a separate batch 
of unfertilized eggs

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to nourish both herself and her brood,

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losing half her body weight 
in the process.

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Thankfully, after about 20 days,

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these larvae grow 
into the first generation of workers,

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ready to forage for food 
and sustain their shrunken queen.

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Her daughters 
will have to work quickly though—

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returning their mother 
to good health is urgent.

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In the surrounding area,

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dozens of neighboring queens 
are building their own ant armies.

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These colonies 
have peacefully coexisted so far,

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but once workers appear,

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a phenomenon known as brood-raiding 
begins.

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Workers from nests 
up to several meters away

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begin to steal offspring 
from our queen.

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Our colony retaliates,

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but new waves of raiders 
from even further away

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overwhelm the workers.

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Within hours, the raiders have taken 
our queen’s entire brood supply

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to the largest nearby nest—

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and the queen’s surviving daughters 
abandon her.

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Chasing her last chance of survival,

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the queen follows the raiding trail 
to the winning nest.

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She fends off other losing queens 
and the defending nest’s workers,

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fighting her way 
to the top of the brood pile.

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Her daughters help their mother succeed 
where other queens fail—

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defeating the reigning monarch, 
and usurping the brood pile.

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Eventually, 
all the remaining challengers fail,

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until only one queen— 
and one brood pile— remains.

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Now presiding over several hundred workers
in the neighborhood’s largest nest,

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our victorious queen begins 
aiding her colony in its primary goal:

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reproduction.

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For the next several years, 
the colony only produces sterile workers.

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But once their population 
exceeds about 23,000,

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it changes course.

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From now on, every spring,

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the colony will produce 
fertile alate males and females.

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The colony spawns these larger ants 
throughout the early summer,

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and returns to worker production 
in the fall.

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After heavy rainfalls, 
these alates take to the skies,

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and spread their queen’s genes 
up to a couple hundred meters downwind.

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But to contribute 
to this annual mating frenzy,

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the colony must continue to thrive 
as one massive super-organism.

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Every day, younger ants feed the queen 
and tend to the brood,

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while older workers 
forage for food and defend the nest.

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When intruders strike,

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these older warriors fend them off 
using poisonous venom.

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After rainfalls, 
the colony comes together,

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using the wet dirt to expand their nest.

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And when a disastrous flood 
drowns their home,

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the sisters band together 
into a massive living raft—

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carrying their queen to safety.

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But no matter how resilient,

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the life of a colony must come to an end.

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After about 8 years, 
our queen runs out of sperm

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and can no longer replace dying workers.

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The nest’s population dwindles, 
and eventually,

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they’re taken over 
by a neighboring colony.

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Our queen’s reign is over, 
but her genetic legacy lives on.