It makes me wonder as an Architect if the ants do something to stabilize the soil. With so much area hollowed out how does it maintain its form? It looks like it would collapse.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The untapped wonders of ant spit and excrement!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Saliva (and to a lesser extent, ant poop) is used to gum the soil particles together. Before you try it at home, it is highly scale-dependent.

It took me a while to remember the term, but this, uh genre, of artistic expression is referred to as momento mori. There are a few translations but the one closest is probably moment of death.

The genre arguably started with the building of the pyramids, which were transported and built in part, from the blood and flesh of countless slave labor, and then over time the genre found widespread use in western art with depections of the death of JC, along with divine judgment, etc., and has continued on from there and evidently now extends for some to the idea of ant colonies which are entombed in a variety of media.