Chapter 1: The Enclosed Colony

Imagine a scenario that feels ripped from a 1950s horror movie: a staggering number of cannibalistic ants, possibly up to a million, find themselves liberated from a Soviet nuclear bunker after enduring years of confinement. But rather than fear, this narrative reveals an inspiring tale of resilience, ingenuity, and the will to survive—even amidst cannibalism.

In 2013, Polish biologists led by Wojciech Czechowski uncovered a vast community of wood ants trapped in an abandoned munitions facility in western Poland, originally constructed in the 1960s to house nuclear armaments. A substantial number of these unfortunate insects had wandered too far from their nest and inadvertently slipped into an open ventilation pipe, leading them into a sealed environment devoid of light, heat, or sustenance.

Intrigued, the researchers monitored this isolated group. They quickly recognized that since the pipe opened at the ceiling, the ants had no chance of returning to the surface unless they developed spider-like abilities. However, did these ants surrender to despair? Not at all. They rolled up their tiny sleeves and endeavored to establish a working society. In total darkness, they fashioned a flat quasi-nest out of dirt and debris, maintaining it through the changing seasons.

When the scientists revisited the bunker two years later, they discovered that the nest was flourishing, housing an estimated population of nearly a million ants. A constant influx of ants descending from the ventilation pipe sustained their numbers, even though there were no signs of successful reproduction. The researchers were keen to understand how the colony continued to thrive in the absence of foraging opportunities. According to their recent study published in The Journal of Hymenoptera, the short answer was cannibalism.

“I wasn’t shocked,” remarked co-author Maák István, an ant behavioral ecologist from the University of Szeged in Hungary. “It seemed like a logical survival strategy.”

By 2016, the bunker floor was littered with nearly two million deceased ants. True to