Aluminum cast of a Florida harvester ant nest

After developing the methods for making metal casts of ant nests in the field, I made this video to show how it is done. The Florida harvester ant is a large ant of the sandhills of the Florida coastal plain pine forests that collects and stores seeds in its nest for later consumption. It decorates its nest crater with bits of charcoal, making the black disc stand out against the white sand. Large colonies may have nests up to 10 liters in volume.