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News Release 05-020 - Video

Certain species of tree-dwelling ants glide to safety when falling.

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Ant on finger
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Certain species of rainforest ants have developed the ability to glide back to the trunk of their home tree when recovering from a treetop fall. This keeps the ants from becoming lost and avoid predation by not ending up on the forest floor.

Credit: Steve Yanoviak and Julie Huang, University of California, Berkeley

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