A Cephalotes atratus gliding ant in mid-air.  Rainforest canopy ants risk losing contact with their colonies if they fall from their home trees to the dark, alien forest floor some 30-40 meters below.  Canopy-dwellers can guard against getting lost by gliding back to the tree trunks before the fall too far.

Gamboa, Panama
A Cephalotes atratus gliding ant in mid-air.  Rainforest canopy ants risk losing contact with their colonies if they fall from their home trees to the dark, alien forest floor some 30-40 meters below.  Canopy-dwellers can guard against getting lost by gliding back to the tree trunks before the fall too far.

Gamboa, Panama
A Cephalotes atratus gliding ant in mid-air. Rainforest canopy ants risk losing contact with their colonies if they fall from their home trees to the dark, alien forest floor some 30-40 meters below. Canopy-dwellers can guard against getting lost by gliding back to the tree trunks before the fall too far.

Gamboa, Panama
A Cephalotes atratus gliding ant in mid-air.  Rainforest canopy ants risk losing contact with their colonies if they fall from their home trees to the dark, alien forest floor some 30-40 meters below.  Canopy-dwellers can guard against getting lost by gliding back to the tree trunks before the fall too far.

Gamboa, Panama
A Cephalotes atratus gliding ant in mid-air. Rainforest canopy ants risk losing contact with their colonies if they fall from their home trees to the dark, alien forest floor some 30-40 meters below. Canopy-dwellers can guard against getting lost by gliding back to the tree trunks before the fall too far.

Gamboa, Panama
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all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013