July 25, 2010 | In: Garden Design
Facts About The Lives Of Ants
Ants are one of the few creatures that can be found living all over the world. Scientists estimate that the tiny insects have been living on earth in organized colonies for more than 100 million years.
Ants are omnivores and their diet of choice is fruit, seeds and other insects. They don’t live that long, about 45 to 60 days is about it, although, some worker and queen ants live longer. Ants range in size but most are pretty small, about 2 to 7 mm long, with six legs. Each leg has three joints. Ants are terrifically strong. They can lift about 20 times their body weight.
Ants are also pretty smart, as far as insects go. Their brains have about 250,000 brain cells, which is the largest among insects. It’s interesting to note that if you weighed all of the ants in the world you would find it to be the same or greater than the sum weight of all the people. Pretty amazing! It’s also notable that the lifespan of the male ant is less than that of a female.
In an ant colony there are males, females and workers. Each colony has as many as several million ants. When a colony gets too big, the winged males and females fly to a new site and start over. The males and females mate in flight.
The queen ant is the head of the colony. After she lays her eggs to start the new colony, she will shed her wings. Remarkably, the queen ant mates only once. The sperm from that union is used for years to produce thousands of offspring. Each ant knows their place in the colony. They have elaborate social structures in which the various jobs are divided among the different ants. The ants are colored in different shades of green, blue, purple and yellow depending on the kind of work they perform. It’s the yellow ant’s job to clean up the nest while the orange ants are in charge of caring for the new eggs and young ants.
Ants are meticulous about keeping the nest clean. They have special compartments for garbage and dead ants. The queen can be expected to live for many years and even produces a chemical that lets other ants know she’s healthy. The workers lick the chemical from her body.
In addition to insect facts, the writer also regularly pens articles about garage doors companies and henderson garage doors.
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