How amazing are ants?
Ants are common insects, but they have some unique capabilities. More than 10,000 known ant species occur around the world.
They are especially prevalent in tropical forests, where they may be up to half of all the insects living in some locations.
Did you know that there are over 10,000 different types of ants around the world? Most live in tropical forests.
What do ants like to eat?
They typically eat nectar, seeds, fungus, or insects. However, some species have diets that are more unusual. Army ants may prey on reptiles, birds, or even small mammals.
How do ants communicate?
Ants communicate and cooperate by using chemicals that can alert others to danger or lead them to a promising food source.
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What is the difference between Ants and Termites?
Well, they both look quite similar and often confuse people. An ant has a narrow waist unlike termites and ants also have larger heads elbowed antennae, and powerful jaws and they belong to the same order Hymenoptera, which includes wasps and bees.
Amazing Ant facts
- Carpenter ants as they like to nest in the wood so can be quite destructive
- Army ants do not have a permanent home as always on the move.
- When an Ant is crushed it sends out an alarming smell to other Ants to let them know that it is in trouble.
- Some Ants produce sounds to communicate within the colony or with other species.
- Ants bite and sting to protect themselves, the Bullet Ant of South and Central America is said to have the most painful insect bite.
- Ants can carry over 3 times their own body weight.
- The leaves they carry are used as bedding for the nest, they wait for the leaves to go mouldy to eat the mould.
- Ants regularly clean their nest and collect fresh nest materials.
- A species of ants that live in trees respond to a flood in their nest by drinking the water, leaving the nest and excreting it outside.
- Ants usually travel up to 200 metres away from their nest to find food.
- To find their way back they use their smell, some use the Earths Magnetic Field (just like Snakes do), and others use the Sun.
- A species of Ant in Australia can live on land as well as being able to swim and live underwater in nests.
- Ants work alongside lots of plants and trees to help spread their seeds.
Ants create a lifeboat in the Amazon jungle – BBC wildlife Video
The job of the Queen Ant
Like Bees ant communities are headed by a queen who will lay thousands of eggs. The worker ants which are commonly seen are wingless female ant that does not reproduces but instead go off to find food to bring back to feed and care for the baby ants. They also are the ones who build the nest and protect the colony.
Male ants one role is to mate with the queen then often die. Ants are quite social and often live in communities that may be located underground, in ground-level mounds, or in trees.
