The social structure of ants cannot but amaze: not only are there females, males, working individuals among them, but there are also species containing slaves in their nest, which, as larvae, were taken prisoner from another anthill. True, these slaves perform the same functions that they would do in their nest, only they take care of the descendants of not their own, but of a foreign species.
Despite the fact that absolutely all species of ants are predators, they not only catch or pick up prey, but also breed mushrooms, keep livestock, which is played by aphids, and are the only creatures in the world, with the exception of humans, engaged in agricultural activities.
Ants are the most numerous insects on Earth
According to the calculations of one of the most respected myrmecologists in the world, Edward Wilson, from 1 to 10 quadrillion ant individuals live on Earth today - that is, from 10 to the 15th power to 10 to the 16th power of individual ants. It is incredible, but true - for every living person there are about a million of these creatures, and their total mass is approximately equal to the total mass of all people. On the Pacific Island of Christmas, there are about 2,200 ants per square meter of soil surface and 10 nest entrances. And, for example, in the savannas of West Africa, there are 2 billion ants and 740,000 nests for every square kilometer of area! No other group of insects reaches such a number and density of population.
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The total mass of ants is equal to the total mass of people on the planet. How can this be? The fact is that according to preliminary estimates of scientists, for each person, on average, there are up to 1,500,000 of these insects.
In total, there are about 12,000 species that live in all corners of the globe, except Antarctica.
The largest number of ants lives in the tropics.
The most dangerous insects in the world are found among ants.
Perhaps, the inhabitants of equatorial Africa are not afraid of poisonous snakes, large predators, or spiders as much as stray ants - a column of several million insects, whose soldiers are armed with powerful jaws, destroys almost all life in its path. Such trips are the key to the survival of the anthill. More interesting facts: stray ants are one of the largest ants in general. Their soldier can reach a length of 3 cm, a uterus - 5 cm. When the inhabitants of a village find out that such a colony must pass through their settlement, they leave their homes, taking all their domestic animals with them. It is worth forgetting the goat in the stall, and the ants bite it to death. But they also destroy all cockroaches, rats and mice in the villages.
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Interesting phat from living conditions
In the anthill chamber, insects contain aphids on mutually beneficial terms. They provide her with plant food, in return they get a sweet substance that aphids release on their bodies. To make it bigger, the ants tickle the insect. For them, such food is a real delicacy.
Interesting!
After the death of a relative, ants, unlike many insects, do not eat it, but take it to a special chamber - a tomb. In the family of insects, care for others, honor, respect is shown.
But the bullet ant is considered the most dangerous ant in the world.
30 of his bites per 1 kg of body weight of the victim are fatal.The pain from their bite is stronger than that from the bites of any wasps, and is felt throughout the day. In the Indian tribes of South America, for the initiation of a boy into a man, a sleeve with live ants placed in it is put on the hand of the initiate. After being bitten, the boy's hands become paralyzed and swollen for several days, sometimes shock and blackening of the fingers.
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Fact # 6: Ants can carry 10-50 times their own weight
Because insects are so small, their muscles are thicker in relation to their body weight than large animals. This allows the ants to carry objects much heavier and larger. Anyway, if people could lift 10 times more weight, a person weighing 90 kg could lift a small car over his head.
It's pretty impressive, but they're not the strongest critters. The dung beetle is the most powerful insect known as it can lift a staggering 1,000 times its own weight.
Ant eggs are not really eggs
What is commonly called ant eggs are actually developing ant larvae. The eggs of ants themselves are very small and are of no practical interest to humans. But the larvae are readily eaten in Africa and Asia - such a dish is rich in protein and fats. In addition, ant larvae are ideal food for chicks of various ornamental birds.
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Anatomy
Ants don't have ears
Ants don't have traditional ears like humans. They "hear" by measuring vibrations. Special sensors on the knees and feet help them pick up vibrations from their surroundings.
Ants have the largest brain among insects.
An ant's brain consists of 250,000 cells, which is more than that of other insects. Some large ant colonies may have as many brain cells as an average person.
Ants have two stomachs
Ants usually have two stomachs. One stomach is used to feed the insect individually, while the other is used to exchange food with other ants in the colony.
Ants are a famous delicacy
The most famous ant dish is the wood ant sauce, which is used as a condiment in Southeast Asia. Honey ants are very interesting in this regard. In each of their nests, there are from several dozen to several hundred ants used by the rest of the colony as food reservoirs. They are specially fed during the rainy season, their abdomen is filled with a mixture of water and sugars and swollen to such a size that the insect cannot move.
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In the dry season, other individuals from the anthill lick the secret constantly secreted by these living barrels and can do without external food sources. Such ants are actively collected where they live - in Mexico and the southern United States - and are eaten. They taste like honey. Another interesting gastronomic fact: in Thailand and Myanmar, ant larvae are consumed as a delicacy and sold by weight in the markets. And in Mexico, the larvae of large ants are eaten in the same way as in Russia fish eggs.
How to equip an ant farm, how to feed insects?
Some insect lovers keep reaper ants as pets. To create an ant farm, you need to purchase a special aquarium made of glass or transparent plastic (formicaria) and place the filler inside. The main conditions are the creation of a comfortable temperature and humidity, sufficient lighting. The cheapest filler for a farm would be a safe, non-toxic gel that requires little maintenance. It is enough to remove the cover once a week for airing, just for a couple of minutes.
Gypsum formicarium has an attractive appearance, is easy to use and is not expensive at all. Gypsum is a common and popular filler material, suitable for beginners.A more expensive filler for setting up a farm is a mixture of soil, sand and dry branches. It is more difficult to care for such an anthill, but the conditions for insects in it are better.
The insect colonies themselves are sold in online stores, 10–20 workers each with a queen, and which and how much to buy depends on the buyer's capabilities. They feed pets with poppy seeds, bird food for canaries, mealworms and cockroaches. It is advised to use a tube of water sealed with a cotton swab as a drinker. The damp cotton wool is changed at least 2 times a week.
The vast majority of ants are females
All worker ants and soldier ants in every anthill are non-reproductive females. They develop from fertilized eggs, while males develop from unfertilized eggs. An interesting fact about ants: a worker ant or a future queen will grow from an egg, depending on how the larva eats. The worker ants can decide for themselves how to feed the brood and how many future queens to feed. Some species of ants do not have a queen as such, and all working females can reproduce. There are also species in which several queens live in their nests. A classic example of this is the nests of domestic ants (pharaohs).
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Species of ants
Almost 300 species of ants are found on the territory of Russia, but only 9 of them are most widespread. House ants, called "pharaohs", are often found. They do not build anthills, but live in the walls of houses, household appliances and furniture, close to humans. Their homeland is India, but from the middle of the 19th century they appeared in the middle lane. To clear them from an apartment or house, you will have to process all the places where the ant can nest.
Red ants are considered the most common on the planet. They bring great benefits to the environment: they loosen the soil, saturate it with nutrients and oxygen, and destroy the remains of animals. The size of such an ant is 10–12 mm. These are the orderlies of the forest. Medicines are prepared from the acid they release, and they themselves are capable of destroying a huge number of dangerous pests. In an anthill about a meter high, more than 1 million individuals are accommodated, but there is only one oviparous female.
A queen ant can live up to 20 years.
The normal life span of a queen who 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 of even larger size live for several months at most. Only in some cicadas and beetles, the full life expectancy, taking into account the larval stage, can reach 6-7 years. This interesting fact from the life of ants does not mean at all that all queens have such a lifespan: most of the fertilized females die after summer, and a significant part of the established colonies also die out for various reasons in the first year of their existence.
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Cloning and burial
There are not so many animals on Earth that would bury their dead relatives. This 9th fact puts ants next to humans and elephants. Special cleaners of the anthill take out the dead individuals from it and put them outside the territory of the colony. This is both a precautionary measure so that healthy ants do not get sick, and home hygiene.
The tenth fact is the unique ability of ants to clone themselves. This is typical, for example, of fire ants and "Amazons". Entire colonies of females use parthenogenesis to reproduce their own kind without the participation of males.
There are slave ants
The connections of different ants with each other are so diverse that even people can sometimes envy them. For example, in a whole genus of Amazon ants, worker ants do not know how to feed and care for the nest on their own. But they know how to attack the nests of other, smaller species of ants, and steal larvae from them.The ants developing from these larvae will not look after their queen and soldiers in the future. In other species, this behavior has reached the point that the queen simply penetrates into a strange anthill, kills the queen living there, and the working ants recognize her as their own and take care of her and her offspring. The anthill itself is doomed after this: from the eggs of such a female, only females will develop, capable of capturing an anthill of another species, and with the death of all the worker ants, the colony will become empty. There are also sparing cases of slavery. For example, a queen abducts several pupae to establish a colony, and ants developing from them help her at the very initial stage of colony development. Further, the colony develops by the forces of the descendants of the uterus itself.
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Anthill device
The anthill looks like an ordinary mountain of branches, blades of grass, pieces of land, but in fact it is a subtly and well-thought-out dwelling, inside of which everything is much more interesting than outside.
The ant house has a cone shape for a reason, thanks to it the rain rolls down the blades of grass and needles almost without getting inside. The anthill rises above the level of the grass so that the sun's rays penetrate inside, with which the ants warm up, and also warm their larvae and pupae. And the deeper layers of the anthill are a refuge for insects on cold days. Thanks to a clever project, the ants spend the summer in the summer cone, and winter in the earthen passages.
Parts of the ant dwelling
Looking at the picture, you can make out the different parts of the anthill, below is described what each of them is for:
- The top covering, consisting of needles, blades of grass and twigs, protects the ant house from the weather.
- A chamber heated by the sun's rays - here ants warm themselves and their offspring.
- One of the many entrances, guarded by soldiers, in addition to the role of a door, also serves as a ventilation channel.
- Warehouse for garbage and dead ants.
- A wintering chamber, where ants wait out the cold half asleep.
- Storage room for grains.
- The queen's chamber, where the queen lives and lays eggs, which is looked after by the working ants.
- Chamber for eggs and larvae.
- Aphid chamber.
- Storage room for caterpillars and other "meat" prey.
It is interesting! The largest anthill in the world is located in the Tomsk region near the village of Zavarzino. This conclusion was reached by Tomsk local historians, who made measurements of this structure. In order to build such an ant house, according to scientists, it took the ant family at least 20 years. Record parameters - 3 meters in height and 5 meters in diameter. According to local historians, this anthill is overgrown, but its residents have already started building a new dwelling nearby. It is possible that it will not be inferior in size to the old one.
Ants can learn
Interesting facts about ants related to the phenomenon of learning have attracted the close attention of many scientists. For example, in some species of ants, those individuals who managed to find food teach others to find a place with food. Moreover, if, for example, in bees this information is transmitted in the process of a special dance, then the ant specially teaches another to pass a specific route. Experiments have also verified that during training, the teacher ant reaches the desired point four times slower than it would reach it on its own.
Form "living bridges" from their bodies to overcome obstacles
The surprising fact remains that many species of ants are able to create living "bridges" from their own bodies... This helps them get across a river or body of water. These include a genus of ants called Eciton.
Once, at one of the universities, an experiment was carried out, which proved that some species are even capable of sacrificing themselves for the sake of other fellows.
Ants know how to farm
Ants know how to farm This interesting feature of ants has been known for a long time - South American leaf cutter ants use the most complex food chain in the animal kingdom: - some members of the colony gnaw off a large piece of a tree leaf and bring it to the anthill - Leaf cutter ants carry smaller leaves home, never leaving the colony, they chew the leaves, mix them with excrement and parts of a special mycelium - the resulting mass is added up in special areas of the anthill - real beds - where mushrooms develop on it, providing ants with protein food. The interesting thing about ants is that they do not eat the fruit bodies themselves - they feed on special growths of the mycelium. Some members of the colony constantly bite off the emerging fruiting bodies, preventing the mycelium from spending useful substances on useless legs and caps. When a fertilized young female leaves the nest, she carries away a tiny piece of mycelium in a special pocket on her head. It is this stock that is the basis for the well-being of the future colony. Besides ants, only humans and termites have learned to cultivate other living organisms for their own good.
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Description of pests
Under normal climatic conditions, the dimensions females are 4 mm, males - 3 mm... A feature of working individuals is a body length of 2 mm. The most common species is the black ant class. Also in the garden area there may be red, pharaoh and carpenter ants.
IT IS INTERESTING! Find out how wild ants live in the forest? Are there any flying individuals?
The color of the ants varies. There are amber, brown, dark brown and completely black individuals.... All ants are endowed with a thoracic segment. They have a thin waist and three pairs of legs. On the head of individuals there are small curved antennae and two strong stings.
Appearance. The body of ants is completely covered with small hairs. Specimens eat fruits and berries... Aphids are bred on plant leaves. This pest can completely destroy crops and plantations of agricultural crops.
What an ant looks like, photo below:
Relationship between ants and aphids
The herding tendencies of ants are known to many: some anthills are so dependent on a flock of aphids that when the latter die out, they also die. Scientists believe that the secretion of a secret at one time was a defensive reaction of aphids from the attack of enemies, only the secret itself was pungent and toxic. But once natural selection suggested to pests that ants can not be scared away, but lured and forced to protect themselves. This is how a unique example of a symbiosis of two completely different groups of insects arose: aphids share sweet, useful and nourishing secretions with ants, and ants protect them. The secretions of aphids that attract ants are called padya. In addition to aphids, scale insects, scale insects and some cicadas share it with ants. Interestingly, many insects have learned to secrete a secret attractive to ants in order to penetrate their nests. Some beetles, caterpillars and butterflies feed on the reserves of the ants themselves in the anthill, while the ants do not touch them precisely because of their ability to share the honeydew. Some such guests in anthills corny eat ant larvae, and the ants themselves are ready to forgive them for treachery for a drop of sweet secret. Above are just some interesting facts about ants. In the biology of each species of these insects, you can find something unique and original. It is thanks to this uniqueness and abundance of specific adaptive traits that they managed to become one of the most numerous and advanced groups of arthropods in general.
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The larvae of the butterfly Phengaris rebeli (Rebel's blueberry) often mimic ant larvae, which is why worker ants will raise and feed them.Scientists have repeatedly noticed how queens attacked the larvae of the butterfly Phengaris rebeli, as a result of which they faced aggression from the worker ants. Confused worker ants, in order to protect "their" offspring, often killed their own queen.
This concludes our article. We hope this information was useful and interesting for you. See you soon, dear readers.
- about the author
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Kobylinsky Alexander
Professional blogger and full-time website author. The latest achievement was the receipt of two higher educations (magistracy) in different fields of activity.
Where do ants live
Almost all ants live in anthills, which they either build on their own, or transform various cavities in the ground, wood, under stones or into human housing for them. 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 extremely diligently. Communication between insects takes place using chemical signals, and news travels very quickly here. For example, within a few minutes after the death of the uterus, every ant will know about it. The video clearly shows the life of ants in an anthill, arranged in a special glass formicaria. Ants live almost all over the world. They are absent only in Greenland, Antarctica and on some oceanic islands. In the same place where ants live, they managed to conquer almost all biotopes, inhabiting the permafrost zone, forests, trees, steppes and even deserts, in which they feed on insects dying from the heat. But regardless of the biotope, the anthill of any ants is a complex structure in which eggs and larvae are kept in optimal microclimate conditions for them.
Some of the smartest insects
Ants are very intelligent and amazing insects. Their lives are subject only to a strict algorithm... They have existed since the time of the appearance of dinosaurs on our planet. But, nevertheless, they were able to preserve many species to this day. There are currently about ten quadrillion individuals.
It is worth noting that ants can communicate perfectly. This helps them find food, as well as mark the way to it and help their fellows in the nest to do this.
These amazing insects can not only protect food supplies, but also store them in themselves. Mostly in their small stomachs, they can carry honey.
A little about the life of the anthill in general
Almost every anthill begins with a small burrow or cavity under a stone, in which a fertilized female is hiding. Without feeding or appearing on the surface, it lays the first eggs and feeds its first helpers with special trophic eggs. And only after the first offspring turns from larvae into adult ants, the female will begin to receive food from them. They will begin to care for the eggs and expand the anthill. For many ants, all the garbage from the anthill is piled up near the exit, and large heaps are formed from it. Such nests are known in our forests - they can reach a height of 2 m.
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The lifestyle of ants living in northern latitudes implies a long experience of the winter period. In those areas where positive temperatures remain underground, the ants do not hibernate, but prepare supplies for the winter, and the anthill continues to live normally throughout the winter. In this case, the female stops laying eggs, and all exits from the anthill are walled up. In the same place where the ground freezes, ants can hibernate in a state of hypothermia. They also set records here: the larvae of Kamchatka ants can cool down to minus 50 ° C. Of course, during this period, insects do not move, and their internal organs practically do not work.Usually, once a year, sexual individuals are hatched in the anthill, which simultaneously fly out, swarm, mate, and the females then crawl away in search of new places for the anthills. Sometimes a very large family can split up, and part of it leaves for a new place to organize a new colony. In general, ants are an example of altruism and complete self-sacrifice for the good of the colony. Each of them is ready to die, protecting the anthill from the enemy, and each of them works selflessly throughout his short or long life. It is not surprising that ants are the most numerous insects on Earth today, surpassing any other group of arthropods in the number of individuals.
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After the queen has established a colony, her work is not completed. She continues to lay eggs, thereby maintaining the existence of the colony. The life expectancy of the uterus in some cases can reach 30 years. As for workers (women), their life expectancy can reach a year. Male ants are the least fortunate. Their lifespan rarely exceeds 1 week.
Origin
According to phylogenetic analysis, ants descended from some vespoid wasps in the middle of the Cretaceous period, about 110-130 million years ago, probably on the territory of the former supercontinent Laurasia. The families closest to ants are true wasps and scoliosis (Scoliidae and Bradynobaenidae). According to other more modern phylogenomic data based on the study of several hundred genes, vespoid wasps are not relatives of ants, but the latter are rather close to sphecoid burrowing wasps (Sphecoidea, Apoidea). Confirmation of the origin of ants from wasps, in addition to anatomical and behavioral similarities, is the discovery in 1967 in the Mesozoic sediments of a transitional form between them - the fossil species of the Frey sphecomyrma (Sphecomyrma freyi). This species combines both the traits of ants and the traits of wasps, and dates from the end of the Cretaceous period (80 million years ago). Subsequently, other species were discovered, which were also assigned to the subfamily Sphecomyrminae. Fossil ants are well preserved in amber, where they can be seen in their original form.
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The largest colony covers an area of 6 thousand km2
In Europe, as well as in the United States, Argentine ants live, which form a huge colony. It is known as the largest ant colony in the world. Its territory covers 6 thousand km2... But, to the surprise of many, it was created by a man.
Initially, this species was found only in South America, but thanks to people, it has spread everywhere. Earlier, Argentine ants created large colonies. But this species is considered a parasite, as it brings great discomfort to animals and crops.
Ants are all friendly to each other, which is why they can calmly be around. Their colonies can stretch up to several tens of kilometers.
The bite of a black bulldog ant is deadly
Such a species of ants as the bulldog is known in the world. They are considered the most aggressive. Among others, they stand out for their size. Their appearance reaches about 4.5 centimeters. The body is often compared to a wasp. When people see such ants, they try to bypass, since their bite is fatal for humans.
Statistics show that 3-5 percent of people stung by bulldog ants die.... The poison will almost instantly enter the bloodstream. It should be noted that this species is able to move by jumping. The largest jump has a span of 40 to 50 cm.
Most often, these insects can be found in Australia. They prefer more humid areas for living. The pain level of a bite is compared to a bite of three wasps at once. After a bite, a person first begins with severe redness and itching throughout the body. Then the high temperature rises.
Sometimes, if a person does not have allergies, then nothing may come from one insect.But if 2-3 ants are bitten at once, then this can already be fatal.
Each ant colony has its own smell
Each ant has its own specific smell.... This helps him communicate with other relatives. Each ant family will immediately feel whether a stranger is next to him or his own.
Thus, the smell helps insects search for food and warn of impending danger. The same goes for the ant colony. Each of them has its own unique scent. "Alien" will not be able to pass through such barriers.
