Following the Swarm

For birds in Panama’s tropical forests, finding food is no easy task. Some birds depend on army ants to do their dirty work; they follow army ant swarms, picking off insects as they flee the hungry ants. Researchers from the University of Wyoming study how these army ant-following birds interact with ant swarms, and each other, to better understand how to protect biodiversity in the tropics. Special thanks to Mary De Aquino and Michael Castaño, graduate students advised by Dr. Corey Tarwater, and Dr. Patrick Kelley, respectively. Dr. Tarwater and Dr. Kelley co-lead the Army-ant-followers Project with collaborators Henry Pollock and Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni. This work is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Additional thanks to the members of the 2023 Army-ant-followers Project not featured in the film: Elizabeth Howard, Nicolas Katz, Rosa Ponce, Nola Sheets, Erin Stewart, and Caroline Wolfe-Merritt. 🦜Tarwater Lab: https://www.tarwaterlab.com 🪺Kelley Lab: https://www.kelleylab.org/ 🐜Army-ant-followers Project: https://www.tarwaterlab.com/copy-of-p...