The Interesting Facts about Ants

15 Fun Facts about Ants

Almost everyone has experienced these uninvited house guests – ants! Ants are found on every continent on Earth except Antarctica. According to the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), ants are considered the #1 nuisance pest in America.
There are over 700 types of ants in the United States. Most people don’t realize that these pests can also pose health risks like food contamination and some species can cause costly property damage.
Although no one wants to see ants in their home, these insects are quite fascinating. Keep these fun facts in mind the next time you see one of these tiny creatures.

1. Ants have Superhuman Strength

Yes, you did read that correctly. Ants are ridiculously strong. They have the ability to carry between 10 and 50 times their own body weight! The amount an ant can carry depends on the species. The Asian weaver ant, for example, can lift 100 times its own mass.

Why are ants strong?

This amazing strength is a result of their small size, believe it or not. The Arizona State University reports that because of their small size, ants’ muscles have a greater cross-sectional area relative to their body size compared to larger animals. This means they can produce more force.

 

2. Ants don't have lungs

Due to their small size, ants don’t have the room to accommodate a complex respiratory system such as ours. Instead, they have their own ways of respiration to help transport oxygen around their bodies.

How do ants breathe?

Ants breathe in oxygen through spiracles which are a series of holes located on the sides of their bodies. The spiracles are connected through a network of tubes which help distribute the oxygen to almost every cell in their body.

An ant’s movement helps the oxygen to circulate through the tubes, with the released carbon dioxide exiting through said tubes as well.

3. Ants don't have ear's

Unlike other pests such as rats, ants don't have ears. But that does't mean they are deaf.

How do ants hear?

Ants use vibrations to hear, using them when foraging for food or as an alarm signal. Ants use the vibrations in the ground to hear by picking them up in the subgenual organ which is located below the knee.

 

4. There are a lots of ants in the world

The phrase "a lot" is an understatement when describing the amount of ants currently in existence. To put things in perspective, it is estimated that there are around 1 million ants for every 1 human in the world!

Ants have pretty much conquered the entire globe. With the exception of Antarctica, the Arctic, and a handful of islands, there is at least one native species of ant found on every continent. Entomologist Ted Schultz says that ant presence across the world is " arguably the greatest success story in the history of terrestrial metazoa".

5. Some ants species are asexual

Rather than going down the traditional route of reproduction, some Amazonian ants have taken to reproduce via cloning. It is reported that the queen ants copy themselves to genetically produce daughters, resulting in a colony with no male ants.

6. Ants are farmers

You may be thinking “what?!” But it’s true, besides humans, ants are the only creatures that will farm other creatures.

Just like we raise cows, sheep, pigs, chicken, and fish in order to obtain a food source, ants will do the same with other insects. The most common occurrence of this is with aphids. Ants will protect aphids from natural predators, and shelter them in their nests from heavy rain showers in order to gain a constant supply of honeydew.

7. Ants have two stomachs

That’s right, ants have two stomachs, and it’s not because they are greedy. One of their stomachs is for holding food for their own consumption, and the second one is to hold food to be shared with other ants.

This process is known as trophallaxis and allows an ant colony to work extremely efficiently. It allows for the ants who forage for food to feed those which stay behind and tend to the duties of the queen and the nest.

8. Ants can swim

Well, not all ants can swim, it depends on the species. They haven’t mastered the butterfly or breaststroke, yet, but they do have the ability to survive in water by using their own version of the doggy paddle, and can also float for long periods of time.

To put it simply, ants are amazing survivors. Not only can they hold their breath underwater for long periods of time, but they will also build lifeboats to survive floods. It can be especially dangerous when fire ants do this.

9. Ants are slave-makers

Slave-making ants are specialized to parasite a single species or a group of related species which are often close relatives to them. The captured ants will work as if they were in their own colony, while the slave-making workers will only concentrate on replenishing their labor force.

Slave-making ants come in two formats: permanent social parasites and facultative slave-makers. Permanent social parasites rely on the enslaved ants throughout their lives whilst facultative slave-makers do not.

 10. Ants are as old as Dinosaurs

A study from Harvard and Florida State Universities discovered that ants first rose during the Cretaceous period around 130 million years ago! They have survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T extinction) that killed the dinosaurs as well as the ice age.

11. Ants have wings

Queen Ants have wings which they shed when they start an illness and start a new nest. Forget human zombies, ant zombies actually exist! This is caused by a type of fungus that infects the ants and takes control of them. Luckily, Ants can sense this and often kill the infected colony member.

12. Only Queen Ants that can lay egg

The queen and the males have wings, while the workers don’t have wings. The queen is the only ant that can lay eggs. The male ant’s job is to mate with future queen ants and they do not live very long afterwards. Once the queen grows to adulthood, she spends the rest of her life laying eggs! Depending on the species, a colony may have one queen or many queens.

13. Ant colonies also have soldier ants

Ant colonies also have soldier ants that protect the queen, defend the colony, gather or kill food, and attack enemy colonies in search for food and nesting space. If they defeat another ant colony, they take away eggs of the defeated ant colony. When the eggs hatch, the new ants become the "slave" ants for the colony. Some jobs of the colony include taking care of the eggs and babies, gathering food for the colony and building the anthills or mounds.

14. Ants are Super Patriotic

 

Queen ants can live three decades. That's longer than any other insect. When the Queen dies, the rest of the colony will die within a few months.

15. Birds love Ants

Birds love Black Ants. They often put them in their feathers, as they secrete formic acid, which eliminates parasites. Ants eyes are made of a combination of small eyes.