Why do ants glide?
To avoid becoming lost. Ant workers are responsible for (among other tasks) gathering resources from the surrounding environment and bringing them to the nest. This is a high-risk job. Day-active ants foraging in a lowland rain forest canopy are frequently exposed to visual predators (lizards, birds, anteaters) and disturbance from passing mammals (e.g., monkeys) in tree crowns. If a worker ant drops off the tree to avoid predation or is brushed off by a passing primate, it will probably land on unfamiliar vegetation or on leaf litter in the understory. Leaf litter is particularly complex foreign terrain and harbors a variety of predator species that are not found in the canopy. Thus, the understory is very hazardous for a small animal that is adapted for following chemical trails along sunlit branches.
