Ants - Stranger than Fiction

There are about one million different kinds of denizens of the animal world that breathe without any lungs or gills, yet all have the same three body sections, six legs and antennae. Up close, their appearance is sure to outdo any special effects movie creature. And what's more, they're real. Ants are just one kind of these terrestrial animals.

Male ants are usually smaller than the queen. They both have wings. The male's life-span is short. Only the queen begins a new colony.

A typical queen ant will usually fly to a new location to start a new colony by herself. She will not need to fly anymore, so she sheds her wings.

With their combined weight greater than the combined weight of all humans, ants are the most numerous type of animal.

Strong in relation to their size, ants can carry 10 to 20 times their body weight. They work in teams to move extremely heavy things.

Ant brains are largest amongst insects. Mushroom shaped brain appendages have function similar to the gray-matter of human brains.

It has been estimated that an ant's brain may have the same processing power as a Macintosh II computer.

What happens when ants are painted with color dots?

Colored dots painted on the backs of ants according to the type of work they are observed doing show that ants have specific jobs.

So yellow dotted ants would concentrate on cleaning. Teams of green dotted ants forage outward for food. Orange dotted ants would take care of the young.

After a few days or weeks, the ants may change their jobs as they take on new skills.

Sometimes when a catastrophe occurs, the ants respond by quickly adapting their duties to overcome the problem.

ANTS DISPLAY THESE SOCIAL ENDEAVORS*

LIVESTOCK FARMING

herd aphids and "milk" them for nectar-like food

CULTIVATION

growing underground gardens for food

CHILDCARE

feeding young and providing intensive nursery care

EDUCATION

teaching younger ants the tricks of the trade

CLIMATE CONTROL

maintaining a strict 77^o F or 25^o C. for developing ants

CAREER SPECIALIZATION

changing & learning new careers

CIVIC DUTIES

responding with massive group projects

ARMED FORCES

raising an army of specialized soldier ants

SECURITY

warding off other ants, insects and animals

EARTH MOVERS

move at least as much soil as earthworms

SOCIAL PLANNING

distribute different jobs among the colony

ENGINEERING

tunnel from two directions and meet exactly midway

COMMUNICATIONS

complex tactile (touch) and chemical communication system (smell)

FLOOD CONTROL

incorporate water traps to keep out rain

TRIAGE

provide care for their injured that are most likely to survive

SANITATION

some ants process waste material so that it safely decomposes

LIMITED FREE WILL
inter-relationships more symbiotic than coercive

* Many of these activities have been observed among specific species of ants. Not every activity listed is found in all species.

All images, animation and ant tunnel background on this website were created by Robert Truscio.
Educational and school websites may link to this page.

	A Typical Ant Nest
Worker ant scouts returning to nest		Worker ant digging

Ant Larvae look like grubs. They are shown in the center of this ant colony. A worker ant is feeding the larvae.

	Egg laying Queen

	The typical ant colony is usually centered around one or more egg-laying "queens". If there is only one queen, it is the mother of all the ants in the colony. The smaller worker ants care for the queen, and the young ants in other stages of development.
Queen Ant