Ants- more than meets the eye

• Ants are some of the most amazing creatures on the planet, here is a few reasons why:
• There are 12,000 different species of Ant and they live on every continent apart from Antarctica.
• Worker Ants can live up to 3 years whereas the Queen Ant can live up to 30 years.
• They range in size from less than 1mm to over 50mm and can be red, black, green or metallic.
• Ants hibernate in the winter.
• Ants live in a society and work together to provide for their Queen.
• Some Ants have little or no vision whereas others like the Australian Bulldog Ant have perfect vision.
• This is why they have a pair of antennae- these are the feelers at front of their heads.
• Ants have a pair of normal eyes and three extra eyes on top to detect light.
• Queen and Male Ants have wings.
• In an Ants nest there are different types of workers- the larger, stronger Ants have harder jobs whilst the smaller ones have easier jobs.
• Ants communicate using their sense of smell.
• When an Ant finds food it leaves a trail of smell for the others to follow. When the food in that area runs out they don’t use that trail again.
• When an Ant is crushed it sends out an alarm smell to other Ants to let them know that it is in trouble.
• Some Ants produce sounds to communicate within the colony or with other species.
• Ants bite and sting to protect them-selves, the Bullet Ant of South and Central America is said to have the most painful insect bite.
• Ants can carry over 50 times their own body weight.
• The leaves they carry are used as bedding for the nest, they wait for the leaves to go mouldy to eat the mould.
• Ants regularly clean their nest and collect fresh nest materials.
• A species of Ants that live in trees respond to a flood in their nest by drinking the water, leaving the nest and excreting it outside.
• Ants usually travel up to 200 metres away from their nest to find food.

  Kids Gifts - Ant Hill

  
  
• To find their way back they use their smell, some use the Earths Magnetic Field (just like Snakes do), and others use the Sun.
• A species of Ant in Australia can live on land as well as being able to swim and live under water in nests.
• Ants work alongside lots of plants and trees to help spread their seeds.
• Have a look at our Bee Facts