@Nathan6692 20 February 2021 more from that month

The Red Imported Fire Ant Known in the southwestern United States since the 1930s, red fire ants have been on a northern expansion which is projected to reach Maryland someday. Although an individual fire ant cannot kill an individual, “they are known to be one of the most aggressive insects that exists,” Rivers says. “They will actually chase you. They’re among the top 10 threats to agriculture because they will destroy anything in their path.” Fire ants form multiple satellite colonies very quickly, and if an animal knocks over their mound, “they’re coming to get you.” Still not scared? When the USDA tried to kill them in Florida flooding with fire hoses, the ants made a watertight ball with the queen in the middle, and it floated on the water. Fire red ants climbing and walking across a small branch. In Texas the ants were crawling into air conditioning vents of hospitals and biting into the patients’ IVs. Patients were dying and nurses and nursing assistants were accused of murdering patients. Some were even serving time in prison by the time the real cause was identified. Pest control companies won’t even guarantee that they can get rid of them because nothing has been 100 percent effective in treating them. “The only thing that will slow them down is winter, and that’s not even 100 percent effective,” Rivers says. “They have killed people—usually young people. And they are relentless.” #info #EverythingsInfo