German flora and fauna photographer Ingo Arndt received an award within the Behaviour: Invertebrates class for his symbol “The Demolition Squad,” which depicts purple picket ants dismembering a blue flooring beetle in Hessen, Germany. To fulfill their protein wishes, picket ants paintings in combination to take down a lot larger bugs and invertebrates, carving them into smaller items to suit into their underground nests.“They bit me and sprayed me with formic acid each day. However I nonetheless love them as a result of they’re good and social animals that display such a lot of attention-grabbing behaviors,” says Arndt, whose picket ant pictures can be featured within the February 2025 factor of Nationwide Geographic. Arndt hopes audiences remove an admiration for the ants. “Wooden ants are very useful for an intact ecosystem. For instance, they kill numerous pest bugs once they seem in plenty and offer protection to the woodland the place they reside,” he says.
