Amazing Ants
Amazing Ants
BELOW THE SURFACE
Regardless of where you live, you have probably seen your share of “ant piles,” “ant mounds,” or “ant hills.” You may have seen ants going in and out of these piles of dirt and wondered, “What’s going on in there?” You can be sure of this much: there is more going on under that ground than you could possibly imagine! Much like an iceberg, an ant hill is only the part we see; what we don’t see is below.
When we see these “ant piles,” we are actually seeing the results of what is happening in the ant nest underneath. The ants are digging tunnels and chambers underground, and the excess dirt is being moved to the surface for several purposes: (1) protection, (2) temperature control, (3) providing an “entrance” to the nest, and (4) air circulation. The intricate tunnels and chambers of an ant hill can go several feet deep into the ground, and are used for shelter, food storage, the queen’s chamber, and caring for the young.
If you have ever kicked over an ant pile, or poked it with a stick, you probably noticed that the ants go into a state of what looks like chaos and panic. Whether you realized it or not, you disturbed a complex and organized system that the creatures below rely on for survival! In these situations, the ants will immediately begin to communicate, sending alarms and messages through the colony. Some of the worker ants will begin defending the colony, while others will begin to rescue their young. What looks like panic and chaos is actually the ants in the colony protecting their queen, their eggs, their home, and their way of life. They will also immediately get back to work, digging new tunnels, finding new entrances, and rebuilding their mound.
So, next time you are tempted to knock over an ant pile, at least you’ll have a better idea of what’s going on underneath!
ANTS 101
Ants are insects, and they are among the most social creatures in the world. They work together, communicate with one another, and can solve complex problems. They live in colonies that can be as small as a few dozen ants and as large as hundreds of millions. (Some “supercolonies” of ants can span thousands of miles and multiple continents!)
Ants communicate through sound, touch, and pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals produced and released by the ants that trigger social responses from other ants. They use these pheromones to leave trails for other ants to follow, to mark the shortest path to a food source, or even to send an alarm to other ants.
Ants can be found on every continent except Antarctica, and recent studies have estimated that there may be 20 quadrillion ants in the world! That’s a 20 with 15 zeros after it!!
The smallest ants in the world are only about 0.06 inches long (the Pharaoh ant), and the largest can grow up to 1.5 inches (the Dinoponera gigantea of South America). They can be a variety of colors, including yellow, red, brown, black, green, and even metallic.
Dinoponera gigantea (Perty, 1833) observed in Brazil by tatyana_kolesnikova (licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
Some ants live for only a few weeks, while others can live for several years. The queens, however, can live for up to 30 years.
TYPES OF ANTS
There are over 13,000 known species of ants in the world, but scientists believe there may be more than 20,000. In other words, it would take a really long issue of Discovery to talk about all of them! But let’s take a look at three different types of ants and see what we can learn about them:
Argentine Ants
Argentine ants measure approximately 0.08 inches long and are light to dark brown in color. They can nest in a variety of spaces, including underground, in the cracks of concrete walls, in spaces between wooden boards, and even among human dwellings (you might want to check that cluttered closet again). They will even occupy the abandoned nest of an entirely different species of ants.
Scientists have observed that there is a lack of aggression among Argentine ant colonies (even between separate colonies), which makes them different from most species of ants, and is one of the reasons why they have some of the largest colonies in the world. Some scientists have seen what they refer to as a “global supercolony” of Argentine ants that extends thousands of miles and is paralleled in its scope and size only by human society itself. A single supercolony of Argentine ants that covers territory from San Diego to San Francisco (called The Very Large Colony) is reported to have a population of nearly one trillion ants.
Argentine ants are known as an invasive species, which means that they can cause substantial harm to other animals and plants within the range of where they live. They are, in fact, ranked among the world’s 100 worst invasive species.
Fire Ants
Fire ants (which is a general term referring to over 200 species of ants) measure from 0.07 to 0.23 inches long and are distinguished from other ants by their color: a copper brown head and thorax with a darker abdomen. The venom of fire ants makes their bites and stings particularly painful, and potentially dangerous for those who may be allergic.
Fire ants feed on plants, insects, and seeds and can attack and kill small animals (such as lizards). Fire ants bite to “get a grip” on their prey and then they inject their toxic venom. They are more aggressive than many other species of ants, and are quite resilient to weather, water, and temperature.
The fire ant queens are generally the largest and can live up to seven years. They may produce up to 1,600 eggs per day and have as many as 250,000 workers in their colony. Young queens often have wings, but they usually lose them after mating.
Interestingly (and sadly for the guys), male fire ants are not accepted back into the colony after they mate with the queen, and they eventually die outside the nest. (Yikes!)
Weaver Ants
Among the weaver ants, the major workers forage, build, and defend outside the nest. They measure about 0.31 to 0.39 inches in length. The minor workers generally stay within the nests to do their work, and measure about half the size of the major workers.
Weaver ants are best known for the incredible way in which they build a nest. The weaver ants bend, shape, and “weave” leaves together using their collective strength and the silk from larvae. The silk is used as a “glue” to bind the leaves together and creates a waterproof, secure dwelling for the ants. As they are pulling leaves together, if the space between the leaves is beyond the reach of a single ant, the workers form a chain with their bodies to reach the next leaf. They are incredibly cooperative and can build a large nest (some measuring over 1.5 feet) in less than 24 hours.
Weaver ants have been found useful in controlling other pests, particularly in Australia and Asia, and have even been used in place of pesticides. Weaver ants are also edible and consumed by humans as a source of protein and fatty acids. In some countries, the price of weaver ant larvae is twice the price of beef! No offense to the weaver ants, but I think I’ll stick with my hamburger!
ANTS IN THE BIBLE
According to Genesis 1:24-25, God created “everything that creeps on the earth” on Day Six of Creation, which most likely means that is the day that ants were created. These creatures are not only a magnificent testimony to God’s brilliance and power, but they are also put forth as an example for us to learn from. Let’s take a quick look at two places where ants are mentioned in the Bible:
Proverbs 6:6-8:
“Go to the ant, you sluggard (a word that means lazy person)! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”
Proverbs 30:24-25
“There are…things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise; the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer….”
With all of this in mind, perhaps we will have a new respect for these amazing creatures, and maybe…just maybe…we might think twice before we kick over our next ant hill!
REPRODUCTION & DISCLAIMERS: We are happy to grant permission for this article to be reproduced in part or in its entirety, as long as our stipulations are observed.
posted by Believer | 12:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home