Beware Of ‘Crazy Ants’

I want to talk about crazy ants. No, not your crazy aunt Margaret, I'm talking insects here.

Who needs an Alfred Hitchcock film? There's a new player on the continent and it is spreading damage from Texas to Florida in a scary assault that sounds like a really bad movie.

'Crazy' ants on the march have a taste for everything from livestock to electrical equipment. They are so obnoxious that many residents are screaming for help.

ABC News reported:

The tiny insect is called "crazy" because the trail it leaves as it eats its way across the country is so erratic it appears the ants have tipped the bottle too many times.

Scientists know it as Nylanderia fulva. It's here now, transported from its homeland in Argentina and Brazil, probably unwittingly, by humans.

They are near the bottom of the food chain, but they could have a devastating effect on plants and animals ranging from cattle to songbirds.

They have a peculiar attraction to electrical wiring and components, and no one is sure why. The damages can be extreme. In one year alone, researchers documented $146.5 million in damages to electrical equipment just in Texas.