Fun Ant Facts

Fun Ant Facts

Most ants found in and around homes nest outdoors and enter a home only to look for food. Different species of ants have various food habits. Some like sweet materials and others like seeds, grease, or protein-rich foods. Ants periodically produce mating swarms with large numbers of winged males and females that emerge from the colony and fly. While most ants cause only a nuisance problem by foraging for food inside a building or forming nests in unwanted areas, such as playgrounds orlawn areas, pharaoh ants and carpenter ants can nest indoors, and carpenter ants occasionally damage wood. 

1. Ants are characterized by a narrow, pinched "waist", and bent or elbowed antennae. They can be confused with termites, particularly when swarms are produced. However, termites have a broad waist and antennae that look like a string of small beads.  Like all insects, adult ants have three body segments: the head, thorax and abdomen.

2. Ants, along with bees and wasps, are members of the order Hymenoptera and undergo complete metamorphosis passing through four stages: Egg, Larva, Pupa and Adult.

3. An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human. 

4. The head of the ant has a pair of large,strong jaws. The jaws open and shut sideways like a pair of scissors. Adult ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. Instead, they swallow the juice which they squeeze from pieces of food. 

5. Ants come in a variety of colors, which include, brown, red, yellow, green, blue, and even purple. 

6. The ant is also so strong that they can lift up to 20 times its own body weight. 

7. Some ants ‘farm’ aphids for their sweet excretions known as ‘honeydew’. Chemicals on ants' feet tranquilize and subdue coloniesof aphids, keeping them close-by as a ready source of food. Some ants also bite off the wings of aphids to prevent them from flying off to escape. 

8. Some ants overtake other coloniesand makethem into slaves. A typical colony of 3,000 slave-making ants may have more than6,000 slaves working for it. Slave ants gather food, feed their hosts, groom and feed the larvae and queen, and defend the colony against attacks by other insects. If the colony moves to a new location the slaves carry their masters, one by one, to their new home. Another method used by slavemaking ants is replacing the queen of the captive colony. 

9. An ant's brain may have the same processing power as a Macintosh II computer.

10. Thousands of years ago, King Solomon wrote: "Go to the ant, consider its ways and be wise".

11. There are over 10000 known species of ants. Some ants sleep seven hours a day! Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. 

12. The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs. One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants. 

13. Ants are clean and tidy insects. Some worker ants are given the job of taking the rubbish from the nest and putting it outside in a special rubbish dump! Each colony of ants has its own smell. In this way, intruders can be recognized immediately. 

14. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse. The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days. If a worker ant has found a good source for food, it leaves a trail of scent so that the other ants in the colony can find the food.

15. They have sixlegs and twoantennae.

16. Male ants are called drones. Female ants are workers and queens.

17. Ants live all over the worldin places where it is warm at least some of the time.

18. All ants live in big groups, called colonies.

19. Most ants dig tunnels and make nests underground.

20. Ants have strongjaws.

21. Ants eat plants, mold, garbageand other animals.

22. Ants bite to protectthemselves when they are in danger. 

23. Most ants are harmless. However, some ants may either bite or sting. Field ants do not have a "stinger" but they can pinch thin areas of skin and secrete formic acid that produces a short-lived pain.

24. Harvester ants have a blunt stinger but can produce a painful sting - usually they can't penetrate thick areas of skin, such as a hand. Children generally are more likely to feel harvester ant stings than adults. Fire ants produce a very painful sting which causes fiery itching, pustules, and sometimes more severe reaction including anaphylactic shock.

25. The tawny crazy ant can produce overwhelming infestations. It does not sting, transmit disease, or make unsightly mounds in the landscape. You can spot an infestation because it may look like the ground is moving due to the high numbers and erratic movement of this ant.