It has been found that fire ants are known to be "attracted" to electricity. Why would anyone or anything be attracted to electricity? These little creatures have been known in different parts of the country and world to invade different electrical units. These units include traffic lights, household electrical meters, circuit boxes, and other outside electrical units. They will gather in the hundreds over these electrical areas, causing area damage to power lines and units. It has been studied by the Texas A&M University have found that it is the actual electrical fields that the ants are drawn to. Many, including me, would have thought that maybe it would be caused by some magnetic field but they have ruled that this theory. When the ants come in contact with the electricity, it usually does not kill them. In fact, they will abandon there search for food and water for days just to feed there craving for electrical fields. This can cause many of them to starve to death. While the researchers have figured what exactly the ants are attracted to they still have no idea why. What could possible make a ant ignore all survival signals (hunger, thirst, scents to do work) simply to "play around" with some electricity? Perhaps they get some kind of stimulant from it, like a drug. What is deadly to us may be stimulating to them. No matter what the reason is, we know fire ants will continue to invade our electrical devices, causing damage, just to feed their attraction.
Source: Weiss, Rick. "Ants get a transformation charge-why ants invade outdoor electrical equipment." Science Service, Inc. BNET. 1989. Web. 25 April 2011.
Wow it is hard to believe an ant will forget about food and water to satisfy some urge to mess with electricity. I didn't know these ants can cause such a problem with electrical equipment. I have no clue as to why these ants are drawn to electricity but would like to know myself. It seems weird that they would abandon the search for food to find electricity.
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