Together we can stay afloat

The fire ant is a small species of the insect family that is constantly under threat from floods. It is interesting how these minute creatures survive the floods. A colony of these ants can self-assemble into hydrophobic rafts of thousands of individuals. These rafts can remain afloat for days at time without drowning the individual ants. The ants held onto each other by hooking their feet together and by gripping each others' legs with their mandibles. This allows for strong but non-permanent attachments. When the ant raft is perturbed or submerged, all the ants contract their bodies in unison. This contraction shrinks the raft and strengthens it in the process. The contracted raft also holds the plastron tighter, allowing the raft to be submerged several centimeters without significant loss of air. These ant rafts are self-assembling as well as self-healing. A mass of ants dropped into water will form a raft within a few minutes. Removing an individual ant from the raft and the rest of the ants will rearrange themselves to fill the gap. The researchers note that these behaviors are some of the characteristics of a living super-organism.       

It is amazing what lessons we can learn from such small creatures. In Proverbs 6:6 we are referred to the ant as a lesson for hard work. Lesson for today; if we held on together we can stay afloat despite our challenges we face daily.