Scientists pumped tonnes of cement into abandoned ant hill and discovered a mega-city in the earth

A lot of us are guilty of overlooking ants - they've spoiled one too many picnics, are a nightmare to get out of your home and have the ability to crawl in every nook and cranny you can imagine.

But the insects are actually incredibly intelligent, armed with super-strength and killer communication skills that well and truly put their creepy-crawly peers to shame.

So is it really that surprising that an army of ants managed to build a secret mega-city beneath the Earth?

Take a look at this extraordinary video:

Scientists uncovered the complex underground network which the creatures had created after pumping around ten tonnes of cement into an abandoned ant hill over the course of three days.

According to EarthSky, the dedicated team of experts were blown away by the intricateness of the 'city state', which features 'subterranean highways' that connect the main chambers of the colony.

I mean, where did you think they got the idea for A Bug's Life?

The team, led by Professor Luis Forgi, got to work in Brazil's sweltering heat to unearth the incredible finding.

They found that the community of ants - dubbed a 'superorganism' due to their expert coordination among one another - had fashioned their very own metropolis eight metres underground.

ORF Enterprise

Honestly, we really ought to take a leaf out of their book in terms of team work.

Referred to as the 'ant equivalent of the Great Wall of China', this complex network boasted main routes, side roads and shortcuts for the ants to get around.

The jaw-dropping discovery was captured in a documentary titled Ants! Nature’s Secret Power, which informed viewers that ants have a lot more to them than you might expect.

The narrator explains: "The paths branch and lead to many fungus gardens and rubbish pits.

"The tunnels are designed to ensure good ventilation and provide the shortest transport routes. Everything looks like it has been designed by an architect, but of course that is not true.

"This colossal and complex city was created by the collective will of the ant colony, the super organism."

The structure covers a whopping 50 square metres and goes eight metres deep into the Earth.

ORF Enterprise

Extraordinarily, this means that the ant colony moved 40 tonnes of soil to create their underground home.

The narrator continues: "Billions of ant loads of soil were brought to the surface, each load weighing four times as much as the worker. In human terms, the soil was carried one kilometre to the surface."

These amazing insects can carry 10-50 times their own weight, according to Arizona State University.

Ants really would put a few gym lads to shame - especially as, according to the Journal of Biomechanics, a team of researchers found that the neck joint of a typical American field ant can withstand pressures up to 5,000 times of its own weight.

"Ants are impressive mechanical systems astounding, really,” said Carlos Castro, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University.

“Before we started, we made a somewhat conservative estimate that they might withstand 1,000 times their weight, and it turned out to be much more.”