Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). The more than 13,000 ant species around the globe have developed a diverse array of nest protection methods. Some spray toxic venoms; others erect rock blockades. Amid the lowland rainforests of Southeast Asia and India, however, there’s a group of ants with a particularly gutsy defensive technique: They explode, showering their enemies with killer goop and sacrificing their own lives in the process….
