Meat ant within a colony is typically favoured as it improves access to forage, as workers deliver most of their food to the nest that is closest to any site they forage in. At any size, a meat ant nest always has a possibility of dying out in any year, but the site may be reoccupied by another colony. Hence, nests can be very old as suggested in one study. Some nests may never be reoccupied for unknown reasons. The regrowth of vegetation which shades the nest, soil damage or even a disease may wipe out a colony and leave the nest
Tupolev ANT-8 Tupolev ANT-8 The ANT-8 was an experimental flying boat designed by Tupolev. It was designated the "MDR-2" (MDR meaning "Morskoi Dalnii Razvedchik", or Naval Long-Range Reconnaissance) by the military. Tupolev and the TsAGI were asked to build the ANT-8 in 1925, but other projects were deemed more important. Thus, little was completed on the ANT-8. Finally, in 1930, with Ivan Pogosski leading, actual work was started on the aircraft. Its first flight was on January 30, 1931, piloted by S. Riballschuk. It is important to note that shortly after the ANT-8 flew for the first time, the ANT-14 lifted off