author Jyothsna

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In our childhood, we all were fascinated by ants. I often wondered, with a tiny stomach, How will they eat? How will they breathe? and I had lots of curiosity about them. Each time I saw them, questions buzzed in my head and I used to wonder and question my mom about it.

In my photographs which were taken when I was very small, I have observed, the Little me crawling and chasing ants. I used to pick them and used to stare for hours with a big question mark in my head.

This is when the concept of a new book idea flashed my head. In my upcoming book, titled HOW I SAVED THE ANTS. Its a story of a boy getting powers from ant queen and his journey of saving lives. So stay tuned, I Will be publishing it soon.

With this, I am here to discuss with you all some ants facts which you all are unaware.

  1. There are more than 12,000 species of ants all over the world. An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight. If a second grader was as strong as an ant, she would be able to pick up a car! Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies!
  2. Ants don’t have ears. Ants “hear” by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet. When ants fight, it is usually to the death!
  3. When foraging, ants leave a pheromone trail so that they know where they’ve been. Queen ants have wings, which they shed when they start a new nest.
  4. Ants don’t have lungs. Oxygen enters through tiny holes all over the body and carbon dioxide leaves through the same holes. When the queen of the colony dies, the colony can only survive a few months. Queens are rarely replaced and the workers are not able to reproduce.
  5. Although ants are frustrating when they get into your home or when you’re having a picnic, ants do help the environment.

1. Here is a list of some of the different types of ants in alphabetical order: Argentine ant Black garden ant Black house ant Bullet ant Carebara diversa ant Carpenter ant Electric ant Longhorn crazy ant Meat ant Red harvester ant Red wood ant Southern fire ant Tapinoma ant Yellow meadow ant 2.The queen ant is the leader and founder of the colony. Her role in the ant colony is to lay as many eggs as she can to populate her colony. All the worker ants are females and they are responsible for different tasks inside the ant colony. Some of the tasks the worker ants are responsible for are caring for the baby ants, getting food, and taking care of the queen ants. Drone ants are males and die shortly after mating with the queen ants.

3. Ants are very strong! Ants can carry up to 20 times their body weight or more depending on the species of ant. 4. Did you know that ants have two stomachs? One stomach is for their food needs and the other stomach is for feeding other ants like the queen ant. The queen is like royalty and she must be taken care of! 5. Some ants can live up to 30 years depending on the type of ant. A Lasius niger queen ant has the longest recorded life span of any insect. She lived almost 29 years in captivity. 6. The Dinoponera is one of the largest ants in the world. They can grow one (1) to three (3) inches long. The Carebara munuta is one of the smallest ants in the world. They can grow to around 1 millimeter (mm) long. That is very tiny! 7. There are many rooms and passages in an ant colony. Some of the rooms are used for nurseries, the queen ant, food storage and rooms for the worker ants. 8. Did you know that ants do not have ears? They are capable of hearing by being able to sense vibrations. Following are Some Interesting Facts About Ants Ants Possess Superhuman Strength Ants can carry 10 to 50 times of their body weight depending on the species. They are strong little devils! how’s that for a fact? Ants Don’t Have Lungs You read it right! Due to their small size, they have small holes on the side of their bodies called spiracles distributing oxygen throughout the body. Ants Don’t Have Ears Unlike other pests’ ants do not have ears. They use vibrations to hear when foraging for food or as a signal. ‘A’ Lot of Ants in the World ‘A’ lot ‘is an understatement, approximately for 1 man, there are 1 million ants in the world. Some Ants are Asexual Research has shown that some Amazonian ants reproduce by cloning. The queen ant copies herself genetically producing daughters. Because of it, colonies are without any males. Ants Have Two Stomachs This is one of the incredible facts about ants. They use one stomach for their food and the other stomach for sharing the food with other ants. Ants are Farmers Your reaction might be “what?!” but yeah, just like we raise dogs, cows, sheep, etc. Ants also raise other insects. One of which is aphids. They protect them from predators, give them shelter to get a regular supply of honeydew. Ants can Swim Ants are survivors, they can swim in the water. Because they use their style of the doggy paddle, they can float for a long period of time. Ants are Slave-Makers Some species like Polyergus lucidus invade the nearby colonies. They take ants and force them to work as slaves. Ants are as Old as Dinosaurs Harvard and Florida state university’s study shows that ants exist for the last million years. Ants are Fighters When ants fight, they fight hard. They fight till one of them is dead. Queen is the Source Queen is the root of the colony. If the queen of the colony dies, the group survives only for few months. Because of that members are not able to reproduce and the queen is seldom replaced. £3 Billion Worth of Damage is done by Fire Ants each year! Red imported fire ant is a tiny critter, which gives a burning sensation if bite. So, they are famous as “fire ants”. They also cause damage to farmer’s crops. Bullet ant has the most painful sting in the world! It lives in humid areas and its sting is compared to being hit by a bullet. Ouch! Ant is the Longest living Insect One of the species of ant, the Pogonomyrmex Owyheei can live up to 30 years. The Colonies of Ants can Spread up to Miles In the year 2000, a giant super colony made of 33 species of ants was discovered in Argentina. The colony was spread over whopping 3700 miles. Ants have Specific Jobs Ants are very civilized insects. They divide the chores among them so all have some specific tasks to do. The queen lays eggs and all the other females feed the larvae, some take out the colony’s trash or protect the nest. Ants can become Zombies Well, this might be one of the strangest facts about ants but a species of fungus depletes them from inside and separates the ant from the colony. The ant then bits a leaf (death grip) and dies. Lazy Things! Study shows that 20% of ants do absolutely nothing in a colony. Eggs Queen ant’s saliva helps eggs to survive. Yum! CONCLUSION Something humans should also learn from ants. They may be small but ants have extraordinary qualities. Ants are sublime creatures. We hope the above information has helped you to understand the facts about ants.

To know more about ants.