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Ants

Ants live in highly organized colonies, with different castes performing specialized jobs. Workers ants perform tasks like digging, nest building, food collection, and caring for larvae. The queen's sole role is to lay eggs. Males mate with queens but then die off. There are over 11,000 known ant species that vary in size, nesting behavior, diet, and predatory tactics. Some farm aphids or other insects for honeydew, while others are aggressive predators that live in huge swarms. Ants communicate through touch, smell, vibrations and even pass food between members of the colony.

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73 views2 pages

Ants

Ants live in highly organized colonies, with different castes performing specialized jobs. Workers ants perform tasks like digging, nest building, food collection, and caring for larvae. The queen's sole role is to lay eggs. Males mate with queens but then die off. There are over 11,000 known ant species that vary in size, nesting behavior, diet, and predatory tactics. Some farm aphids or other insects for honeydew, while others are aggressive predators that live in huge swarms. Ants communicate through touch, smell, vibrations and even pass food between members of the colony.

Uploaded by

Michelle� Calista Salim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ANTS

Maybe you help with chores at home. Maybe you play on a team. You know that a lot of work can get done if everyone shares part of the job.
No creature knows this better than the ant. Ants live in groups called colonies. Every ant in a colony has a special job to do.

WHAT KINDS OF JOBS DO ANTS DO?


There are three kinds of ants in each colony: workers, queens, and males. Each kind of ant does a different job. Worker ants dig tunnels,
raise young ants, collect food, and build and clean the nest. The job of the queen is to lay eggs. Male ants mate with queens. Males die a few
weeks after mating.
Most of the jobs in an ant colony are in the nest. Many species (kinds) of ants build their nests underground in soil. Some species of ants
build mounds of soil on top of the ground. Other species use plants to make nests. Some ants nest in hollow plant parts or spaces between
rocks. A few kinds of ants have no permanent nests.

WHAT DO ANTS LOOK LIKE?


Ants are small insects. Like all insects, ants have six legs. The smallest ants are 0.03 inch (0.7 millimeter) long. They are hard to see! The
biggest ants are almost 1‚ inches (3 centimeters) long.
An ant’s body looks like it has a very thin waist. The narrow waist lets the ant bend when it goes around turns in underground tunnels. Male
ants and young queen ants have wings. The workers of many species of ants have a stinger that they use to fight enemies.
An ant has a mouth with three parts. The most important mouthparts are its jaws. Ants can move them from side to side. They use their jaws
for digging, carrying things, collecting food, building nests, fighting, and cutting. Ants use their lower jaws for chewing. They use their
tongues to suck up liquids. Adult ants can swallow only liquid foods. Some ants chew solid foods until the food turns into a liquid.

CAN ANTS SEE AND HEAR?


Most ants have two compound eyes. Compound eyes have many parts called lenses that help insects see well. Other ants have three simple
eyes, with one lens in each. Some ants that live underground are blind. Ants do not have ears. But they can feel sound vibrations. Some ants
communicate by drumming on the ground. They also communicate by touching each other with their antennae.
Tasting, smelling, and touching are how ants find out what is around them. They have two thin antennae on their heads that help them do this.
Each antenna is shaped like a human arm bent at the elbow. Ants tap the antennae on the ground to find food. They can even move their
antennae around to smell. An ant is always moving its antennae every which way. Ants  “talk” to each other with smells, too. Ants give off
smells to warn other ants of danger or to show them where to find food. Sometimes you can see long lines of ants. These ants are following a
smell!

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF ANTS?


There are about 11,000 species of ants. Ants live in most places of the world. Army  ants live in forests in Central and South America. Huge
swarms of army ants hunt for insects or spiders. Driver ants are army ants that live in Africa. Harvester ants live in deserts. They eat seeds.
Aphid-tending ants keep aphids and other tiny insects the way that farmers keep cows. The ants “milk” the aphids for a liquid food called
honeydew. Slave-maker ants kidnap the babies of other ant species. The babies grow up to be workers in the slave-makers’ colonies.
Honeypot worker ants store honeydew and other food in their bodies. They get so big that they cannot walk! They feed the whole colony.

HOW DO ANTS REPRODUCE?


After the queen mates with a male ant, she makes or finds a nest. She then lays eggs. The first group of eggs to hatch become worker ants.
The queen’s only job after that is to lay more eggs. The worker ants take over the job of caring for the nest. Males come from some of the
eggs, queens and more workers come from other eggs.
When the egg hatches, a wormlike larva appears. It does nothing but eat and grow. When it gets big enough, it becomes a pupa. The pupa
grows legs and antennae. It becomes an adult ant.

Forager Ant
Ants are small insects that live all over the world. They are social insects, which means they live in colonies, or groups, that range in size
from a few dozen ants to more than 1 million ants. Here, a forager ant searches for food among blades of grass.

Magnified Ant Head


This magnified view of an ant’s head shows its large eyes and antennae. The antennae are important for finding food and communicating with
other ants.

Trapjaw Ant
The trapjaw ant eats insects that it catches with its spring-loaded jaws. After catching the insect, the ant injects it with poison to stop it
from moving.

Leafcutter Ant
Leafcutter ants got their name because they cut out pieces of leaves and take them back to their nest. The ants can’t eat the leaves, but
they use them to grow a fungus that they can digest.

Army Ants
Army ants live in Central and South America and are known for being very fierce and aggressive. These army ants are carrying their young
(called larvae) in their jaws to transfer them to a new nest.

Milking the Aphids


The honeypot ants in this photo are taking care of tiny insects called aphids. These ants will “milk” the aphids to produce a sweet liquid,
called honeydew, which the ants then eat.

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