The Ant Lion Trap

How to Play

• Click and drag in Dig mode to excavate conical pits in the sand
• Throw Sand mode lets you fling sand grains at ants to knock them into pits
• Flatten mode fills in areas by adding sand
• Ants walk randomly across the surface - when they step on steep slopes, they slide!
• If an ant slides to the bottom of a pit, the ant lion captures it
• Sand naturally settles at its angle of repose (~34 degrees for dry sand)
• Steep slopes trigger avalanches that can sweep ants into pits
• Larger pits catch more ants but take longer to dig

Physics: Real ant lion larvae dig funnel-shaped pits and wait at the bottom. When prey falls in, they throw sand to trigger mini-avalanches that bring the ant down!