What we learned about the orgy of flying ants that swarmed Vancouver | Daily Hive

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If you found yourself ducking for cover as flying ants swarmed your neighbourhood earlier this week around Metro Vancouver, you certainly were not alone.

Many residents created their own social media swarms, sharing their experiences with the flying ants that had created a buzz in Van City and nearby areas, such as New West and Burnaby. We buzzed around and found a couple of experts who are knowledgeable about this phenomenon, as well as whether you need to worry about seeing it again this year.

If you saw the swarms, what you were witnessing was essentially a giant ant orgy.

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Judith Myers, Professor Emerita at the UBC Department of Zoology, told Daily Hive that the flying ant hordes are part of a mating swarm, featuring both male and female ants.

“They are mating swarms that occur in summer. Swarms are both males and females and seem to be synchronized in a given geographic area,” she said.

She also told Daily Hive that while the swarms might be annoying, “they don’t last long.”

Ants typically aren’t known to fly, so what gives?

“The ants that are being produced in colonies develop wings and have mating flights for a short period of time before starting new colonies,” Myers said.

For the male ants involved in the mating swarms, it’s some way to go.

“After mating, female ants lose their wings and establish new colonies. Male ants die after feeding.”

It’s also not just a local phenomenon; it’s happening worldwide.

Flying ants! Flants! #flants pic.twitter.com/XUZIHiPPbZ

— Podders (@Morris_Oxford) July 9, 2025

While Myers isn’t exactly sure what causes the swarms, she said the weather could influence them.

Asim Renyard, Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, said similar regarding the weather.

“It is usually something like a warm sunny afternoon after some rain with low wind. When this happens, winged male ants and winged new queens will emerge from the nest and start to fly. The winged males are smaller, look a bit like a wasp, and the new winged queens look more like the worker ants you typically see walking around, except they are ‘chonkier,'” Renyard said.

“These winged individuals then seek out mates from other colonies,” he added.

Renyard also stated that the mating flights can last up to a month but are typically concentrated over a few days.

“If there are high numbers of ants in your neighbourhood, then the numbers can easily reach thousands,” Renyard added.

“The species of ant that is likely swarming in the Lower Mainland right now is the black garden ant. They are common in lawns of urban areas and are mostly just a nuisance for people.”

Based on comments on social media, the swarms really shocked some residents.

“You can barely take two steps without them flying in your face and all around you,” one person said on the New West Subreddit.

“It looks like nothing I’ve ever seen,” they added. There were easily thousands of ants swarming around Uptown New Westminster earlier this week.

Someone else said, “I was wondering why they were all over my car on my drive home!

Others mistook the flying ants for flies.

Did you experience the orgy of flying ants in Metro Vancouver this week?

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