Facts About Ants for Kids

Ant is a critter which you can find everywhere. They are found in the hut of a poor to the palace of the king. It is the most common pest which you come across in homes and businesses. It is a truly fascinating creature with unique qualities. So, let’s understand the facts about the ants in this article.

There are almost 12000 species of ants across the globe. Scientists and entomologists constantly study ants as a subject of interest. AsEusocial insects, ants are a part of the Formicidae family along with related bees and wasps.

Facts About Ants which makes them Unique Species

They belong to the order Hymenopetra. It is believed that ants evolved from the vespoid wasp. Ants make colonies of different sizes. There can be a few dozen individuals ants living in small cavities to highly organized colonies that occupy larger areas made by millions of ants.

Larger colonies contain different castes of wingless females, sterile ants. The working ant is ergate and the soldier ant is denigrate. The fertile female is called the queen and the fertile male is a drone.

Superorganism is the famous term used for ants as they operate collectively in working together, unified entities to support the colony. The colonies have communication among them, division of labor, and an impeccable ability to solve complex problems.

This unique behavior put them parallel with human society and the subject of study. Ant is used in medication, cuisine, and rites. But one of the facts about ants is, some even play a vital role as biological pest control agents.

Below are Some Types of Ants in the World

Although there are more than 10000 species of ants, we have shared some of their names below:

• Carpenter Ants
• Black Garden Ants
• Fire ants
• Pharaoh Ants
• Bullet Ants
• Redwood Ants
• Little Black Ants
• Tapinoma Sessile Ants
• Red Harvester Ants
• Yellow Meadow Ants
• Ochetellus Glaber Ants
• Myrmecia ants
• Meat Ants
• Argentine Ants
• Asian Needle Ants
• Acrobat Ants
• Crazy Ants
• Dark Rover Ants
• European Fire Ants
• Field Ants

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

With over 1000 species of ants, it is quite difficult to distinguish among them. The ants are present everywhere on earth except Antarctica. They are laborious and work continuously for the betterment of their colonies.

So, 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.