Antlion Traps and Devours Victim | Empire of the Desert Ants | BBC Earth

Many threats await a lone ant once it leaves the protection of the nest - and this one is unlucky.

Watch more:

Natural World: Empire Of The Desert Ants
Against the Chiricahua Mountains of southern Arizona, Empire of the Desert Ants takes an in-your-face look at the violent world of desert honey ants by charting the fate of a single colony over several years as they battle all-comers for survival and dominance over the small patch of desert that is their world. Both the big picture and every minute detail are captured in this dramatic and fascinating film using the latest camera techniques and visual effects. Macro-photography shows the heart of their epic confrontations and the very core of life in the honey ant colony. Battle plans, defensive strategies and 'team' tactics are presented using the latest battlefield technologies. Also revealed are parallel worlds dominated by hidden forces - chemical weaponry, ultra-sonic sound, pheromones, ultra-violet and polarised light - as well as detailed characterisations of the different members of the colony.

Welcome to BBC EARTH! The world is an amazing place full of stories, beauty and natural wonder. Here you'll find 50 years worth of entertaining and thought-provoking natural history content. Dramatic, rare, and exclusive, nature doesn't get more exciting than this.

[Dizzle]

Scariest trailer for a horror movie I’ve seen to date.

[macabrew]

These were one of the most fascinating creatures as a kid, they look like they're from another planet.. It's like it's a Micro Tremor

[mrmacedon]

Everybody gangsta till the whole ant colony shows up

[DMH]

Where it will be slowly digested for over a thousand years?

[queermelancholy]

It's amazing how something natural like this can be made so horrific with the right words.

[ivannatany]

He failed "Keep Off the Sand" achievement((

[MereImitation]

How amazing of an architect do you have to be to make a slope that is stable until an ant’s body weight is applied? That’s downright incredible that a trap like that can be dug.

[FoodTech]

It never crossed my mind an ant would struggle to climb out of a tiny sand pit.

[CJCroen]

_"In its belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a... thousand years."_

[thescriptwriter]

Now when you're feeling sorry for yourself, and downhearted, take comfort and good cheer in the fact that not the size of African Lions 😲😲😲

[thegenerousdegenerate]

When I was young, I used to find ants and drop them on the edge to watch them slide to their doom. What the narrator misses is that the Ant Lion isn't thrashing about. Its actually tossing sand up to the top of the ledge to cause a mini rock slide to drag the ant to the bottom. They don't "toy" with their food. They actually have really poor eyesight so most of its attacks are based on the vibrations it feels from the struggling ant. This whole event usually happens in a fraction of a second. They must have tried dozens of times to find an example this active. Still cool to watch in slow mo though.

Oh yeah and dont step on these lil traps... They work humans too and they hurt like the Dicken. Lol

[Specialshark]

Ant goes into hole
Antlion: *In case you haven't noticed you've fallen right into my trap*

[CharlieB.-]

Dang! He was throwing that ant around like a RAG DOLL🐜🐜

[weamjasim]

I was actually more creeped out by the commentary voice than of the killing machine that thing is.

[davidbuschhorn]

When I was a kid, my cousins and I would drop ants into ant lion traps. We'd dig the ant lions up and play with them. Alien-looking things! :)

[FunTimeGhz]

"Buried alive" demonstrated .

[miguelyorba]

As kids growing up on a ranch, the fine sandy washes were prime ant lion habitat. I spent many, many hours collecting ants and small beetles to drop one by one into the perfect cone shaped lairs then watching them struggle to climb the steep, fine sand walls only to eventually slide into the big jaws of the ant lion. It would then pull its prey beneath the surface and, over time, toss the drained and dried out carcass out of the pit and wait for more. Was so fascinating. It beat burning them all with a magnifying glass.

[ElizabethRodriguez-tppn]

Born and raised in Texas. Houston to be precise so in the city and I had honestly never realized how many bugs I had never taken notice of. About a year and a half ago we moved to Kingsville TX and it being more rural I have seen so many bugs that I had never seen before in my life. I have a stroller for my blind kitty and recently I started noticing these small 'holes'/cones in the dirt in this patch that we pass by on our daily walk. The area is teeming with ants I assumed it was them doing it but I had to look it up. Had never heard of Antlions. This video was fascinating.

[OLBICHL]

XD I remember the first time I saw an antlion... it fascinated me so much that I couldn't be bothered by the schools bell ringing everybody back in. I remember thinking to myself if the antlion actually knew that it built a trap for ants and that all it's prey were unfortunate insects, who will become it's food... or it just learned that digging hole= mealtime

[Chull-uktd]

Sarlac: *invades reality*
Reality: Ok, so, fine. But, we're going to have to make you absolutely useless as an adult