AS HARDWORKING AS AN ANT

AS HARDWORKING AS AN ANT

 

INTRODUCTION

There are at least 12,000 species of ants that are classified into about 300 genera and 21 subfamilies.  The most typical color is black ants, but there are many ranging from red to orange to yellow and green.  Ants are insects 'social' in the sense that they live together in society where everyone works according to the welfare of the community.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANTS

 

• There are over 10000 known species of ants. Each ant colony has at least one or more queens.
• Each colony of ants has its own smell.  In this way, intruders can be recognized immediately.
• Ants have four distinct growing stages, the egg, larva, pupa and the adult.
• Ants are clean and tidy insects.

 

• Ants have six legs.  Each leg has three joints.  The legs of the ant are very strong enabling them to run very quickly.
• Ants use their antennae not only for touch, but also for their sense of smell.
• The jaws of an ant open and shut sideways like a pair of scissors.
• The ant has two eyes; each eye is made of many smaller eyes.
• The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs.  One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants.

 

• An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells.
• Adult ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. Instead they swallow the juice which they squeeze from pieces of food and throw away the dry part that is left over.

 

• The job of the queen is to lay eggs which the worker ants look after.
• Worker ants are sterile; they look for food, look after the young, and defend the nest from unwanted visitors.
• Worker ants are given the job of taking the rubbish from the nest and putting it outside in a special rubbish dump
• Worker ants keep the eggs and larvae in different groups according to ages.
• At night the worker ants move the eggs and larvae deep into the nest to protect them from the cold.
• During the daytime, the worker ants move the eggs and larvae of the colony to the top of the nest so that they can be warmer.
• If a worker ant has found a good source for food, it leaves a trail of scent so that the other ants in the colony can find the food.

 

• Army Ants are nomadic and they are always moving.  They carry their larvae and their eggs with them in a long column.

 

• The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days.
• Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight.
• The Leaf Cutter Ants are farmers.  They cut out pieces of leaves which they take back to their nests. They chew them into a pulp and a special fungus grows it.
• Ants cannot digest leaves because they cannot digest cellulose.
• Some birds put ants in their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of the parasites.

 

REFERENCES

http://daffodil2010.hubpages.com/hub/The-hard-working-ant

http://www.lingolex.com/ants.htm