Footage shows how ants were seen forming a living bridge with their own bodies to climb a metal post.

Resident Kanticha Nam was undergoing quarantine when she noticed the red ants climbing outside her home in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand on February 10. The insects grabbed each other's legs to form the makeshift crossing.

Kanticha said: 'I didn't have anything to do in quarantine, that's how I noticed the ants. I thought it was cool how the ants managed to reach the other side when there's a gap.'

The army ants seen in the video are believed to be from the species Eciton hamatum, which form 'living' bridges across breaks and gaps in the forest floor to allow swarms of them to travel efficiently.

Researchers from Princeton University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) found in 2015 that the structures are 'more sophisticated than scientists knew'.

The ants exhibit a level of collective intelligence that could provide new insights into animal behavior and even help in the development of intuitive robots that can cooperate as a group, the researchers said.