That’s an ant stuck in a pit dug by an ant-lion. Looks bad. But wait. That’s some escape ! These are trap jaw ants, named for their spring-loaded mandibles that snap shut on termites and other prey. They also use their jaws to jump vertically sometimes by snapping them shut on the ground. It looked like an escape move, but evidence was lacking. Then researchers at the University of Illinois saw the ants bounding out of ant lion traps and sought proof in the lab that the jump was an effective escape. In the lab, trap jaw ants were able to run out of a pit half the time. But 15 percent of the time they slammed their jaws shut against the sand. And, SNAP, they lived to hunt another day.