The crazy ants, officially called "Tawny crazy ants, " are omnivores that can take over an area by both killing what's there and starving out what they don't kill, said Ed LeBrun, a research associate with the Texas invasive species research program at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory in the College of Natural Sciences.

CNN: 'Crazy ants' a threat in southern U.S.

Abraham is currently on leave from the University of Maryland, where she is a faculty associate in the Maryland Population Research Center and a professor in the Joint Program in Survey Methodology.

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