Fire ants are smart and highly adaptive and can survive in a range of climates and conditions.
They can:
- travel over and under ground
- fly up to 5 km
- raft on waterways after floods or wet weather events.
Fire ants can also spread when people move:
- materials such as soil, hay, mulch, manure, mining and quarry materials, turf and potted plants
- containers that have been used with organic materials, such potted plants
- dirty machinery that has been used to move restricted material.
To stop the spread, fire ant biosecurity zones and associated movement controls are in place in parts of Queensland.
