How omnivorous anteaters create deadly sand traps Science

You’ll never know from looking at an adult dragonfly-like anteater, but its wingless larvae – toenail-sized eating machines with huge jaws filled with venom – build deadly sand traps for capture small insects, including ants. Scientists now know how to do just that: When unfortunate prey falls into a pit, the bottom anteater uses its head to hurl a storm of sand grains down the funnel-shaped slope, creating a small slice that pulls the unfortunate insect towards its destiny. Scientists say the drilling is a feat of engineering and physics.

To understand how larvae create such effective traps, German scientists used high-speed videography to watch ants reared in the lab trap ants and little cockroaches in small, sandy terrariums (see video above). Then, the researchers dug their artificial sand traps and saw that the prey could escape from the hole while the larva was not inside, spilling sand.

By comparing decades-old biological observations with technical models, the researchers found that by throwing grains of sand, anteaters consistently maintain the hole’s “angle of repose” – the steepest angle. Possible before the sandy slope begins to slide. Sandstorms not only destroy prey, but also maintain the geometry of sand traps and ensure the ants are not buried on their own, the team reported in a preprint. bioRxiv.

The new study found that anteater larvae must constantly maintain their traps to keep them in good working order and catch enough prey to last 1-3 years before they grow into an agile, less lethal adult.