Ants

Basic Information

Ants belong to the family Formicidae and are closely related to wasps and bees!

Scientists have discovered over 12,000 different species of ants living on Earth today!

A group of ants is called a colony, and some colonies can contain millions of ants living together!

The study of ants is called myrmecology, and scientists who study ants are called myrmecologists!

Ants have been living on Earth for more than 100 million years, which means they lived alongside dinosaurs!

The largest ant colony ever discovered stretched 6,000 kilometers (3,750 miles) from Italy to Spain, containing billions of ants!

All ants in a colony work together like a superorganism, which means they function as one big living thing!

Ants live on every continent except Antarctica, and they can be found in almost every type of habitat!

The word “ant” comes from the Old English word “æmette,” which was used over 1,000 years ago!

Physical Characteristics

Ants have two stomachs — one for their own food and another to share food with other ants!

An ant’s brain contains about 250,000 brain cells, which is a lot for such a tiny creature!

Ants don’t have ears but can feel vibrations through their feet and legs!

An ant can lift up to 50 times its own body weight, which would be like a child lifting a car!

Ants have compound eyes made up of many tiny lenses that help them see movement really well!

The largest ant species, the Giant Forest Ant, can grow up to 3.8 centimeters (1.5 inches) long!

The smallest ant species, the Pharaoh Ant, is only 2 millimeters long — about the thickness of a penny!

Ants have three pairs of legs, giving them six legs total, just like all other insects!

An ant’s antennae are like a combination of a nose, fingers, and ears — they use them to smell, touch, and feel vibrations!

Ants have sharp mandibles (jaws) that are so strong they can cut through leaves and carry heavy objects!

Behavior & Intelligence

Ants leave trails of chemicals called pheromones to help other ants find food sources!

Worker ants can switch jobs as they age, starting as nest cleaners and moving up to food collectors!

Some ant species practice “farming” by growing special fungi for food in underground gardens!

Ants hold “funerals” by carrying dead colony members away from the nest to special disposal areas!

When ants fight, they sometimes lock mandibles and try to throw each other around like tiny wrestlers!

Some ant species create living bridges with their bodies to help other ants cross gaps!

Ants do a special “waggle dance” to tell other ants where to find food, similar to honeybees!

Ants take regular power naps that last about a minute each, having hundreds of naps per day!

Some ant colonies have “guard ants” that stand at the entrance with their heads plugging the holes!

Habitat & Survival

Desert ants can survive in sand temperatures up to 70°C (158°F) by walking on their tippy-toes!

Some ants create waterproof rafts by linking their bodies together to survive floods!

Leaf-cutter ants build massive underground cities that can have up to 1,000 chambers!

Army ants build temporary nests called bivouacs using their own bodies linked together!

Some ant species live in trees and create homes by weaving leaves together using silk from their larvae!

Ants can survive underwater for up to 14 days by trapping air bubbles around their bodies!

Fire ants build their mounds facing the sun to help regulate the nest temperature!

Some ant nests can extend more than 8 meters (26 feet) deep underground!

Carpenter ants build their homes by chewing tunnels through wood, but they don’t eat the wood!

Some desert ants have special silver hairs that reflect sunlight and help keep them cool!

Life Cycle

A queen ant can live for up to 30 years, while worker ants usually live for 1–3 years! Queen ants can lay up to 300,000 eggs in a single day!

Ant eggs are so tiny that 30 of them could fit on the head of a pin!

It takes about 6–8 weeks for an ant to develop from egg to adult!

All worker ants are female — male ants only live for a few weeks and their only job is to mate!

When a queen ant starts a new colony, she uses her wing muscles for energy until her first workers can bring food!

Baby ants (larvae) are fed by adult ants who pre-digest food and share it mouth-to-mouth!

Young queen ants fly away from their home nest to start new colonies in a special event called a “nuptial flight”!

Ant larvae can control their development to become either workers or queens based on what they’re fed!

Some queen ants can store sperm from a single mating for their entire lifetime — up to 30 years!

Diet & Feeding

Leafcutter ants don’t actually eat leaves — they use them to grow fungus gardens for food!

Some ant species “milk” tiny insects called aphids for sweet liquid food called honeydew!

A single ant colony can eat up to 100,000 insects in one day!