They came to America and found a nation overflowing with calories. Carbohydrate-rich fast food was available on every corner, and with little competition for it, the migrants ate their fill. Soon, they started spreading throughout this new land of opportunity. They are red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) and their invasion is well underway.

The fire ant is an international pest. It devastates native ants, shorts out electrical equipment, damages crops, and inflicts painful stings. It hails from Argentina, but it was carried to the United States aboard cargo ships that docked at a port in Alabama. That was in the 1930s; since then, this invader has spread throughout the southern states, from California to Florida. The country spends over