Some holidays involve plenty of revelry, while others have a more mournful tone. And then there’s Flying Ant Day, perhaps the strangest holiday of all, which involves — you guessed it — swarms of ants cavorting through the air.
In an explainer for the U.K.’s Natural History Museum, Lisa Hendry wrote that this nightmare-fuel day “usually occurs in July or August and coincides with a period of hot and humid weather.” Why do these ants take to the air? Simple: they’re looking to mate. And yes, sometimes Flying Ant Day does coincide with Wimbledon, so if the prospect of frisky flying insects and elite tennis players converging on the same location is of interest, it’s always a possibility.
This year could be a banner year for Flying Ant Day, as The Guardian pointed out. Their forecast predicts that “it looks set to be the worst one yet.” The article points to “[a]lternating warm and wet conditions,” a result of human-caused climate change, as the cause of the most intense periods of ant swarms.
Joseph Yoon Would Like You to Consider Incorporating Bugs Into Your Diet
The first episode of “Gastro Obscura: Sparked” explores the misunderstood world of edible insectsIf the idea of massive swarms of flying ants looking to make, well, more ants isn’t your thing, there’s one reason for cautious optimism. The Guardian predicts that the airborne bugs should be at their largest concentration between July 22 and 25 — long after the final match of Wimbledon this year has ended.
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