Watch the clip

That's not a line. That's a highway.

A crumb falls in the schoolyard. Pori and two friends watch a black garden ant highway form along a crack.

A crumb falls on the schoolyard. A minute later there's a line. A few minutes later, it's a highway.

Black garden ants live in colonies that usually have between 4,000 and 7,000 workers, sometimes far more. The ants in the clip travel along a crack in the paving, past a broadleaf plantain, a tough little plant that grows where people walk.

And under a leaf, the Easter egg: a woodlouse. It looks like an insect, but it's a crustacean, a relative of crabs and shrimps that lives on land.

Found in this clip

  • Black garden antLasius niger
  • Broadleaf plantainPlantago major
  • Common rough woodlousePorcellio scaberhidden in the clip

Try it outside

At lunch break, find an ant trail in the schoolyard with your friends. Follow it without touching: where does it start and where does it go? Draw a map of the highway.

Porini is free for schools.

Start a Porini season

Sources

Animation, visuals and voice made with AI.

All field notes