Why do red ants eat people? Thank you.

There is a mysterious ant mountain in huixian city, Xinxiang, Henan. On the mountain, there is an ant called "man-eating ant" by the local people. Sheep, poisonous snakes and even humans who came here were attacked by them. Legend has it that they once attacked a Japanese team. The reporter visited Ant Mountain and experienced and witnessed their ferocity. In the morning, when renting a car from Beizhai Township, Huixian County, a sudden shower came, which made our trip a little difficult. In the fog, the taxi stopped on the hill near the cliff. After more than an hour, the taxi took us to a village called Nanyao Village, which is a beautiful village halfway up the mountain, only two or three kilometers away from Ant Mountain where we are going. Nanyao Village in the rain is exceptionally quiet. More than 20 families are scattered on the cliff. Almost all of them are closed and it is easy to meet people. When we heard that we were going to Ant Mountain, everyone shook their heads and said that the mountain was high and the road was steep, and they were unwilling to lead the way. We met Shi Faqun who came back from the terrace and said that he finally agreed to our request. Starting from the hillside trail behind Shi Faqun's home, we climbed the mountain, crossed the terraced fields, crossed the dense forest and wound our way. We climbed for over an hour. At the top of the mountain, there is a gravel path next to the cliff, and below the path is a valley hundreds of meters deep. Crossing the path is a lush valley with waist-deep weeds that have blocked the original path. The master group that didn't come in five or six years can't find the original route up the mountain. We have to make a detour, climb the protruding stones between the stone walls, climb over two hills, and finally reach Ant Mountain in three hours. Mayi Mountain is the highest peak in this area, with an altitude of nearly 1700 meters. Standing on Ant Mountain, I feel that "all other mountains are short in the sky". Especially thick, and the surrounding layers of green are also particularly charming. The temperature here is very low, and the cold wind blows. I don't know how red ants like such a place. We are also very surprised: on the mountain road leading to Ant Mountain, huge black ants and many poisonous snakes can be seen from time to time to feed, but on Ant Mountain, black ants and poisonous snakes are hard to be found. Shi Faqun said that the red ants on Ant Mountain are very aggressive, and the locals call them "cannibal ants". Usually cattle and sheep go into their territory by mistake, and the whole mountain will be bitten. Snakes, badgers, mice and black ants on the mountain are even more afraid to approach. They are the veritable overlords here. Red ants' orderly counterattack "invasion" of the ridge of Ant Mountain is the dividing line between Henan and Shanxi. The highest peak and sunny side of the mountain are covered by pine forests, and the area where red ants live is on the shady side, densely planted with Leymus chinensis and low hazel trees, which are soft pine needles and brownish red soil. Before entering this area, Shi Faqun asked us to tie up our trouser legs, because red ants are very sensitive. As soon as people touch the grass tree, they will rush out and attack people. After a few steps, Shi Faqun suddenly jumped up with a sigh. It turned out that when he pulled up the grass tree by hand, he touched a huge ant nest, and a dozen ants immediately climbed on the back of his hand and launched an attack. This ant nest is built in the middle of the overgrown Leymus chinensis tree. Dense ant eggs, four or five centimeters thick, are arranged in the middle of grass trees. It's hard to find if you don't pull it by hand. Our arrival obviously alarmed the ants, who realized the danger and began to move on a large scale. They are obviously well organized. Most ants methodically move eggs the size of soybean grains to a nearby rock, while others stand guard around the moving road. As soon as we approached, they immediately set up four front legs, supported the whole body with two rear legs, opened two pliers and threatened to bite. These ants are about 1 cm long. Their heads and limbs are reddish brown, while their bellies are black with black stripes. They acted quickly, and in less than five minutes, thousands of ant eggs were removed. A poisonous snake will die when it meets a red ant. Shi Faqun said that these ants not only move quickly, but also have strong attack power. They once ate goats protected by villagers. According to Shuang Bao, one day, he was herding sheep in Ant Mountain, and found that he had lost a goat. He searched left and right and finally found the sheep's bone. He thought it was the leopard that ate the goat, but when he thought about it carefully, leopards generally only like to drink sheep's blood, and even if they eat meat, they won't eat it so cleanly. In order to find out the truth, he went home and caught a chicken and put it next to the sheep bone. Soon, thousands of ants crawled out to attack the chicken. A few hours later, the chicken was bitten by an ant, leaving only a skeleton. This proves that his goat was eaten by ants. More legendary, these red ants once saved the life of Lucy Shuang Bao's father, Lucy Li Sen. One day, while collecting herbs in the grass of Ant Mountain, Alice suddenly met a poisonous snake 1 m long. When the poisonous snake was about to attack him, he suddenly turned around and struggled painfully. He leaned down curiously and saw that the poisonous snake was covered with ants and was desperately biting. Although the venom of the poisonous snake killed many ants, after more than an hour, the poisonous snake turned into a skeleton. Celison therefore dodged a bullet. Red ants "poisoned" the invaders. We found another nest of bigger ants on a dry trunk a few meters away. This nest of ants is much bigger than what we just saw, and its eggs are much bigger. They blocked the exposed hole with floating soil and grass clippings, leaving only the passage in and out. They are obviously more aggressive. In order to photograph the eggs of ants, the photographer squatted next to the nest of ants and put the camera close to the nest. In just a few seconds, twenty or thirty ants climbed up his leg along the sneakers, while dozens of other ants kept climbing. Because he was wearing shorts, the photographer had no protection. The attack of twenty or thirty ants made him jump up in pain, beat for a long time, and then be removed one by one. Immediately, many red spots appeared on his legs. After cleaning up the ants on his legs, he found that more than a dozen ants were biting his arm. It turns out that they climbed up along the camera. When the reporter caught a few ants as samples, as soon as his hand touched the nest, several ants immediately climbed up and bit, feeling as sharp and itchy as the tip of a needle sticking into the skin. After being attacked, we retreated more than 10 meters. Crowds of red ants still persisted, looking for the smell and running towards us, and vowed not to give up until they drove us out. With the invasion of ants, there is a pungent and strong sour taste, which makes people dizzy and inaccessible. Even if they step back more than ten steps, the smell can still be smelled. This is probably their secret weapon for self-defense hunting. I believe that small animals will be smoked to death by this smell and become their delicious meal. Whether the ants here are only interested in meat, we did an experiment and threw our biscuits and bread at them. We found that they were not interested at all, but when we threw the insects we caught at them, they immediately surrounded and bit them. Although the locals have never heard of the incident of red ants eating people, the reporter believes through his own experience that if there are enough red ants, few people can escape their attacks when attacking humans. Man-eating ants come from Amazon? The horrible name of "man-eating ants" and their powerful ability to attack human beings make the villagers in Nanyao village a little worried: If these "man-eating ants" are increasing, will there really be a day of eating people? Speaking of "man-eating ants", people will naturally think that it is a specialty of the Amazon basin. Is the "cannibal ant" in Ant Mountain the legendary "cannibal ant" in Amazon Basin? We will ask Professor Zhang from Forestry Vocational College of Henan University of Science and Technology for verification. After a preliminary analysis, Professor Zhang thinks that they can't be cannibal ants in the Amazon river basin, but red forest ants distributed in Shandong, Sichuan and Jilin provinces in China. This red ant generally likes cold environment, so there are many nests on the mountain. Professor Zhang said that the nesting activity of red forest ants generally begins in April every year, reaches its peak in July, and will decline in August and September, and enters the hibernation period in 65438+ 10. In addition, their activities outside the nest are also regulated by temperature and humidity. This red forest ant mainly feeds on insects and small animals in the forest and is extremely aggressive. When their nests are destroyed, they will secrete a lot of formic acid, which is the pungent smell that reporters smell. Usually there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of ants in an ant nest in a certain area.