Ants are amazing social creatures and very intelligent. It may be a bit small, but that doesn't mean it's boring. So let's get to know some interesting and fun facts and information about ants:
1- The sheer number of ants on Earth is almost unquantifiable, but it is estimated that there could be approximately 10 quadrillion ants. Scientists estimate that there are more than 22,000 species of ants, but only about 12,500 have been discovered.
2- Bullet ants, which live in humid jungle conditions such as the Amazon, are said to have the world's most painful sting of any insect. It is also the largest ant currently exist in the world, which can grow up to 1.6 inches long. Some Native American tribes practice initiation rituals that force young men to be bitten by bullet ants, whose bites can be painful for up to 24 hours. Fire ants cause approximately $4 billion in damage annually.
3- Ants are the longest-lived insects. Unlike some insects that may only live for days or even hours, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis queen ants can live up to 30 years. Worker ants (females) live about a year, while males live a little more than a week. The ant is considered one of the strongest creatures in the world in relation to its size, as one ant can carry 50 times its weight.
4- Ants hold the record for the fastest movement in the animal kingdom. Ants do not have ears, so ants “hear” by feeling vibrations from the ground with their feet. They also use their antennae and hairs on their bodies to sense proximity while searching for food. Ants do not have lungs. Ants breathe oxygen through spiracles, which are a series of holes on the sides of their bodies. The spiracles are connected by a network of tubes that help distribute oxygen to almost every cell in the body.
5- Ants are found pretty much all over the world. Except for Antarctica, the Arctic and a few islands. Instead of going the traditional route of reproduction, some Amazon ants have taken to reproduction by cloning. It is reported that queen ants copy themselves to genetically produce daughters, resulting in a colony with no male ants.
6- Ants protect aphids from natural predators, and shelter them in their nests from heavy rain showers in order to have a continuous supply of aphids. Ants have two stomachs. One of their stomachs is to hold food for their own consumption, and the second is to hold food to share with other ants.
7- Some ant species, such as Polyergus lucidus, are known as slave ants. They invade neighboring ant colonies, capture their inhabitants and force them to work for them. Some species of soldier ants steal eggs from other colonies. Once they hatch, the baby ants are used as slaves.
8- Ants are as old as dinosaurs, as they were able to survive waves of extinction. When searching for food, ants leave a pheromone trail so they know where it is.
9- Queen ants have wings, which fall off when they start a new nest. When the queen of the colony dies, the colony can only survive a few months. Queens are rarely replaced and workers cannot reproduce.
10- Ants are highly social insects, and they divide jobs between different species of ants in each colony. The queen or queens have only one job, which is to lay eggs. All female worker ants; They feed the larvae, excrete colony waste, scavenge for food and supplies, or defend the nest. The only job of male ants is to mate with the queen.
11- Not all ant species build nests. A group of about 200 species known as army ants have two life stages. The first is during the nomadic stage, where ants travel throughout the day, attacking colonies and other insects they encounter for food. At night, they build a temporary nest and continue moving the next morning. The only time they stop traveling is when the queen lays eggs and the colony waits for them to hatch. During this time, worker ants make a nest out of their bodies to protect the queen, food, and eggs.
12- An extinct ant measuring 2.4 inches in size and with a wingspan of six inches has been discovered. It is known as “Titanomymra giganteum” and is the largest ant ever discovered. The smallest ant in the world is the Pharaoh ant, which is 2 mm long
13- In the tropics, ants make up 25% of the mass of all animals. Ant eggs feed by eating the saliva of the queen ant. Ants can go to war with rival colonies for weeks at a time. Every year, ants move approximately 50 tons of soil per 2.58 square kilometers.
14- Most ant species have only one queen per colony, but red imported fire ants and Argentine ants are known to have two. Each ant colony has its own unique scent. This way, they can smell intruders. Carpenter ants can kill themselves to save others, by bursting their glands and spraying a toxic liquid on their enemies. Soldier ants protect their nests by blocking entrances with their heads.
15- There is a fungus called “Ophiocordyceps” that infects the ant until the infection reaches the ant’s brain. When the infection is in the brain, the fungus takes over the ants' mind. The fungus makes the ant go to the leaf and attach its mandibles to it while the fungus develops. Eventually the spores emerge from the ants' exoskeleton, infecting more ants. But more surprisingly, some ant species have learned to recognize infected mates and carry them away to protect the rest of the colony.
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