Texans shaken as thousands of fire ants seen forming rafts on river using their bodies
Thousands of fire ants have been spotted floating on floodwaters through the Texas city and forming rafts using their bodies with residents now reporting the gross behavior.
KXAN Austin took to X to post a video taken by Austinite David Todd of the little critters, seen nestled into a large cluster in the waters of Lake Travis.
X users weighed in on the scary sight.
'A floating ball of pure hate,' one observed.
'I've done more than seen them. I've run into them at night wading out to the ramp on my dock when the lake is rapidly rising,' another wrote. 'Sucks.'
'Bring out the torch,' someone else suggested.
The pesky bugs, which can cause painful stings, are rife in Texas. But when their underground nests flood, they sink their teeth into each other, interlock their limbs and create rafts to stay alive.
'It's called a self-organizing or self-assembling process. And it's something only social insects do,' Ed LeBrun, a research scientist at the University of Texas' Brackenridge Field Lab, told the outlet.
'There are a lot of other structures that ants make in a similar way. For example, army ants will make bridges across rivers.'
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About Natera Natera™ is a global leader in cell-free DNA and genetic testing, dedicated to oncology, women's health, and organ health. We aim to make personalized genetic testing and diagnostics part of the standard-of-care to protect health and inform earlier, more targeted interventions that help lead to longer, healthier lives. Natera's tests are supported by more than 300 peer-reviewed publications that demonstrate excellent performance. Natera operates ISO 13485-certified and CAP-accredited laboratories certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) in Austin, Texas, and San Carlos, California. For more information, visit About ABCSG The ABCSG (Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group) is Austria's largest and best-known academic research organization, successfully conducting international clinical trials on breast and colorectal cancer — and, since 2013, also on pancreatic cancer. In addition, ABCSG is increasingly active in translational research. 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These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including with respect to whether the results of clinical or other studies will support the use of our product offerings, the impact of results of such studies, our expectations of the reliability, accuracy, and performance of our tests, or of the benefits of our tests and product offerings to patients, providers, and payers. Additional risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in "Risk Factors" in Natera's recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and in other filings Natera makes with the SEC from time to time. These documents are available at and View source version on Contacts Investor Relations: Mike Brophy, CFO, Natera, Inc., investor@ Media: Lesley Bogdanow, VP of Corporate Communications, Natera, Inc., pr@ Sign in to access your portfolio
