What if these ants were someone's pets?

For goodness sakes, how does this happen, ever?  These ants somehow got themselves trapped in an exudate.  That's correct.  Totally trapped.  Now their friends and family may never know what happened to them.  Plus.  What if they were someone's pets?

Ray, for one,  would especially  like to know how this happened?  Where did the exudate come from?  Is the exudate a product of the annual sunflower to which it is attached?  Or, more likely, is it resin that dripped from the pecan tree which spread its branches above the sunflower?  Mercy.

Those are small ants, less than half the size of the generally better known acrobat ants.   Was one of those ants attracted to the gummy yet delicious exudate?  Did it become trapped?  Then, did its pitiful cries for help eventually ensnare its mates?  Too many questions?  Mercy!