- Reports and messages
- Insects
- Ants
Ants are the most developed and powerful insects.
They are also the oldest, because they appeared about 100 million years ago and lived together with dinosaurs. But unlike them, they have survived to this day. There are 12 thousand species of these animals on the planet! Some of them can reach 5 centimeters in length. For insects, this is quite an impressive size.
Many people believe that termites are related to ants. But this is not true! Termites are closely related to cockroaches, and ants are closely related to bees.
There are as many as 10 quadrillion of these animals on the whole Earth! This is 1 million more than people. The world's largest ant colony is home to more than a billion of these insects.
Scientists believe that an ant can lift 5,000 times its own weight. If a person had such strength, then a 6-year-old first grader could lift a load weighing 100 tons!
Ants are divided into three groups: female, male and worker. The queen ant can reign for up to 30 years, but the worker lives only 3 years.
Ants are very good tacticians. They have their own “scouts,” and during battles they put the weakest in front and the strong behind in order to wear out the enemy.
There are only two species of organisms in the world that have domesticated others. This is a man and an ant. Yes, you heard it wrong, ant. They have tamed the aphid and constantly milk it, because the substance it secretes is consumed by the ants as food.
Ants can build a bridge out of themselves in order to overcome some obstacle.
Workers are not allowed to eat what they find. They are obliged to bring the prey to the anthill and there the food will be fairly distributed. If an ant stops bringing food, it can be killed.
In Mexican cuisine, the dish escamoles contains ant larvae. Ants protect each other. If someone is sick, his brothers take turns licking him to kill the infection.
Nowadays, it is becoming popular to have ants as pets. You can buy an ant farm for your home, where these animals will live.
Report Ants message
Ants are social insects that live in large families. There are three varieties: males and females, which have wings, and wingless workers. They build their homes - anthills - in the ground, near stones or trees, often in the wood itself. Sometimes some ants take over the nests of other ants. These insects also settle in human homes. Nomadic ants are common in South America. These insects are not found only in Antarctica; there are about 14 thousand species of them.
They eat the sap of plants, as well as the honeydew of aphids and other insects - the sweet juice that they leave on the leaves. Another favorite delicacy of ants is other insects, which they attack or collect corpses. That’s why they were called “forest orderlies.” They also eat mushrooms and seeds. The food obtained is distributed in the anthill among all relatives. Ants live in close “cooperation” with aphids, which secrete honeydew - their food. They protect the aphids, transfer them to a new place when the colony migrates, and also touch with their antennae, in response to this the aphids secrete honeydew.
Ants are very smart insects, their family is a complex social group where everyone performs their own duties. They can transmit complex information to each other and coordinate their actions when performing various tasks.
The size of the ant varies depending on the species from 1 to 50 mm. These insects are classified as Hymenoptera, so their closest relatives are bees and wasps. According to one version, they originated from wasps. But termites are not related to ants; they are closer to praying mantises and cockroaches. A distinctive feature of ants is their articulated antennae. With their help, ants analyze substances with which they come into contact, and also “communicate” by touching. The body is covered with a shell of chitin, which serves as an exoskeleton. Compound eyes instantly react to any movement, but the ants themselves do not distinguish objects well.
Before developing into an adult insect, the ant goes through the egg, larva and pupa stages. Worker ants monitor and feed the larvae. When a family grows greatly, it is divided, usually once or twice a year. Ants in the tropics are active all year round; in cold regions they are dormant in winter. An ant queen can live 20 years, the lifespan of worker ants is from several months to 3 years, but the males die after mating, so they live only a few weeks.
The role of ants in nature is enormous. They spread the seeds of tropical trees. There are birds that sit on anthills and spread their wings so that the ants clean them of parasites. Ants are food for pangolins, anteaters, as well as lizards and poison dart frogs. Birds, such as woodpeckers, also love to eat these insects.
These insects help loosen the soil, they mix and fertilize it. By setting up anthills in old stumps, they thereby destroy them, speeding up their disposal. They also fight insect pests. In some countries they are eaten.
In human homes, ants can spoil meat and sweet products; there are poisonous representatives. For example, red fire ants. Some species are endangered and protected by law.
Queen ants can live up to 20 years
The usual lifespan of a queen that has managed to establish a colony is 5-6 years, but some live up to 12 or even 20 years! In the world of insects, this is a record: most single insects, even larger ones, live for several months at most. Only in some cicadas and beetles, the full life expectancy, including the larval stage, can reach 6-7 years.
Interesting facts about ants related to the phenomenon of learning attract the close attention of many scientists. For example, in some species of ants, those individuals that managed to find food teach others to find a place with food. Moreover, if, for example, in bees this information is transmitted during a special dance, then the ant specifically teaches another to follow a specific route.
Almost all ants live in anthills, which they either build on their own or convert various cavities in the ground, wood, under stones or into human housing. The life of ants in an anthill is distinguished by the highest organization and order. Each member of a large family clearly knows their functions and performs them with the utmost diligence.
Communication between insects occurs through chemical signals, and news travels very quickly here. For example, within a few minutes after the death of the queen, every ant will know about this. The video clearly shows the life of ants in an anthill, built in a special glass formicarium.
We suggest you read: Worms in children
