The Secret World of Ants: Amazing Facts Your Kids Will Love
- Pat & Best Ants UK Team
- Nov 5
- 11 min read
Have you ever wondered just how many ants share our planet? Prepare to be astonished – scientists estimate there are 20 quadrillion individual ants alive right now. That's 20 followed by 15 zeros! This mind-boggling number represents just one of many remarkable facts about these tiny creatures.
The ant world holds even more surprises. Between 10,000 and 22,000 species of ants exist worldwide, though researchers have identified over 15,800 species so far. Each species brings its own fascinating characteristics to this miniature universe beneath our feet.
Did you know ants can lift 50 times their own body weight? Imagine if you possessed such strength – you could hoist a car above your head! These small but mighty insects contribute up to 25% of the total biomass weight of all land-based animals. Half of all insects living in tropical areas are ants. Army ant colonies can reach a couple of million individuals and can eat a cow for 24 hours!
We find ourselves captivated by these extraordinary creatures and their secret societies. Their underground cities buzz with activity, showcasing complex social structures and abilities that would make any superhero envious. Join us as we explore the hidden world of ants, sharing facts that will spark your children's curiosity about these incredible insects. Trust us – once you discover what ants can really do, you'll never look at them the same way again.
What are ants and where do they live?
Those tiny creatures marching across your garden path belong to the family Formicidae, part of the order Hymenoptera alongside bees and wasps. These remarkable invertebrates evolved from wasp ancestors during the Cretaceous period, becoming one of Earth's most successful animal groups.
Ants as insects and invertebrates
Ants lack backbones, classifying them as invertebrates rather than vertebrates like birds or mammals. Their insect bodies feature three distinct sections: head, thorax, and abdomen. Look closely and you'll spot their most recognisable feature – geniculate (elbowed) antennae that help them navigate and communicate with colony members.
Size varies dramatically across ant species. The smallest measures just 0.75 millimetres, whilst giants can reach up to 52 millimetres. Here's something remarkable: if all vertebrates vanished tomorrow, ants and other invertebrates would continue playing crucial roles in ecosystem functioning.
Habitats: underground, trees, homes
These social insects adapt impressively to diverse environments. Colony sizes range from modest communities of a few dozen individuals to massive societies containing millions. Some Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) supercolonies with hundreds of millions of individuals and their underground nest empire is more than 3,700 miles long.
Ants make their homes almost everywhere:
Underground nests: Intricate tunnel systems beneath soil, with chambers serving different purposes. These subterranean nests protect against weather extremes and predators.
Wood dwellings: Carpenter ants excavate galleries in wood, including trees and sometimes our homes.
Arboreal (tree) nests: Tropical weaver ants stitch leaves together using silk from their larvae.
Human structures: Inside walls, behind baseboards, under countertops, or other protected spaces.
What attracts ants to specific locations? They seek three essentials: food, water, and shelter. Worker ants venture from nests searching for provisions, leaving chemical trails to guide nestmates to food sources.
Where ants are found around the world
Ants dominate almost every continent except Antarctica – quite ironic considering the name similarity. They're absent from Greenland, Iceland, and isolated island groups, including parts of Polynesia and Hawaii.
Tropical environments suit these industrious insects particularly well. Their abundance can be nearly six times greater in moist tropical ecosystems compared to less suitable habitats.
Did you know? If you weighed all the ants in the world, they would outweigh all wild birds and mammals combined!
The ant world showcases remarkable diversity across regions. Annual rainfall positively affects ant species richness globally, whilst temperature influences vary between different geographical realms. Scientists have classified more than 15,800 species, yet estimates suggest the total could reach approximately 22,000 species worldwide.
Ant Colonies: Miniature Cities Beneath Your Feet
Step into the underground world of an ant colony and you'll discover one of nature's most organised societies. These miniature cities operate with precision that would impress any urban planner.
Meet the Colony: Queens, Workers, and Drones
Every ant colony functions like a well-oiled machine, with each member playing a vital role. The queen reigns as the colony's most important resident - she's the only reproductive female and spends her entire life focused on one task: laying eggs. Some queens, like the army ant, produce thousands of eggs daily. Queens live remarkably long lives too, with many surviving 10-15 years, though some exceptional black garden ant queens reach 30 years.
Worker ants make up the colony's workforce - they're all sterile females who keep the community running smoothly:
Foraging expeditions to find food and transport it home
Construction and maintenance of tunnels and chambers
Nursery duties, caring for eggs and larvae
Security services defending against intruders
Male ants serve one purpose: mating with the queen. After fulfilling this duty, they typically die. Their brief lives contrast sharply with the queen's decades-long reign.
Did you know that the male ant's sperm is alive for the queen's entire lifespan? Once fertilised, the queen keeps laying eggs for up to 30 years!
Building Underground Empires
Watch worker ants in action and you'll witness remarkable construction skills. They create intricate networks of tunnels and chambers, each serving specific purposes - nurseries for young ants, food storage rooms, even waste disposal areas.
These industrious builders communicate using chemical signals called pheromones and through touch. This sophisticated communication system allows them to coordinate complex projects like food collection, nest defence, and childcare duties.
Here's something fascinating: despite being called "queen," she doesn't actually give orders. Worker ants choose their own tasks based on what needs doing. This self-organising system allows colonies to adapt quickly to new challenges.
When Tragedy Strikes: Queen's Death
The queen's death creates a crisis for most colonies. Single-queen (monogyne) colonies face particular difficulty since no replacement exists. Without new eggs, the population slowly declines as workers age and die. However, some species maintain multiple queens (polygyne colonies), providing backup if one queen dies.
Colony Size: From Small Towns to Megacities
Colony populations vary enormously. Most ant colonies house between 20,000 to 100,000 individuals, though this can range from just a few hundred, like the Acorn ants (Temnothorax nylanderi), to several million, like the Argentine and army ants.
Carpenter ants typically maintain colonies of about 3,000 members, while Argentine ants average around 10,000,000 individuals. Some species create "supercolonies" - vast networks of connected nests that can contain billions of ants.
Fancy observing these remarkable creatures up close? You can buy queen ants from reputable suppliers to start your own educational colony at home.
Understanding ant societies reveals extraordinary cooperation happening right beneath our feet - miniature civilisations that put human cities to shame.
Incredible Ant Facts That Will Blow Your Mind
Get ready to discover some truly amazing secrets about these tiny creatures! We've spent 30 years studying ants, and their abilities never cease to amaze us. Your children will be absolutely fascinated by what these miniature marvels can actually do.
The Incredible Strength of Ants
We've already mentioned their impressive lifting power, but here's the full story. Many ant species can carry 10-50 times their own weight. Picture this – if you had ant strength, you could easily lift and carry a full-grown cow!
Even more remarkable? Ant neck joints can withstand pressures up to 5,000 times the ant's weight without breaking. The Asian weaver ant takes this strength to another level entirely, lifting a staggering 100 times its own mass. Simply incredible!
Ants Have Two Stomachs
Did you know that ants possess two stomachs? One serves their personal needs, whilst the second acts as a "social stomach" for sharing food with fellow colony members. Foraging ants use this special sack to store food they discover outside the nest, later regurgitating it to feed their nestmates.
This shared fluid contains much more than just food – it's packed with proteins, small RNAs, hormones and other beneficial substances for the entire colony. Talk about community sharing!
Ants Can Swim and Float
Despite appearing purely land-based, many ant species possess impressive aquatic skills. Some paddle across water using dog paddle-like motions, whilst others create incredible living rafts. Fire ants excel at water survival by linking their bodies together with mandibles and claws, forming rafts that can float for weeks. Carpenter ants use their powerful legs to paddle effectively, even with their larger size.
Ants Are Ancient Creatures
These tiny insects boast an ancient lineage stretching back 140-168 million years to the Jurassic period. Ants first appeared around 90 million years ago during the mid-Cretaceous period, meaning they walked the Earth alongside dinosaurs. Their diversification truly accelerated approximately 100 million years ago, coinciding with the flowering plants' emergence.
Do Ants Actually Sleep?
Absolutely! Worker ants take approximately 250 micro-naps daily, each lasting about 10-60 seconds, totalling nearly five hours of sleep. Queens enjoy much more rest – sleeping around nine hours daily through about 90 six-minute naps.
Do not wonder next time you see your Messor barbarus queen lying on one side and not moving for a while, just keep quiet.
Researchers have observed something truly fascinating: queens' antennae quiver during deep sleep, potentially indicating something resembling dreams. Who knew these tiny creatures might dream just like us?
Why Do Ants Carry Their Dead?
The investigation led to the discovery that particular pheromones released by dead ants instigated a reaction in their live counterparts, resulting in the extraction and grooming of the dead ants. This research offered insights into the chemical communication mechanisms within ants and illuminated the coordination inherent in their carrying behaviour.
How Ants Communicate and Find Food
The success of ant colonies lies in their remarkable communication abilities. These tiny insects have mastered multiple ways to share vital information about food sources and potential dangers.
Chemical Highways: Pheromone Trails
Ants create invisible chemical pathways using pheromones. When a foraging ant discovers food, it deposits a scent trail while returning to the nest. This chemical highway guides other workers straight to the food source. Each successful forager strengthens the trail, making popular routes more pronounced.
We find this system brilliantly efficient. Pheromone trails fade naturally when food runs out, preventing wasted effort. These chemical signals also alert colonies to danger - threatened ants release alarm pheromones that trigger defensive responses throughout the nest.
Food Sharing: More Than Just a Meal
Ants engage in trophallaxis, a direct mouth-to-mouth food exchange that serves multiple purposes. This behaviour transfers far more than nutrition. The shared fluid contains:
Growth-regulating proteins
Development-affecting juvenile hormones
Chemical recognition signals for nestmates
Through trophallaxis, ants essentially vote on their colony's future by controlling growth-promoting components. This creates a communication network linking every colony member.
Feeling Sound Instead of Hearing It
Ants don't have ears, so they detect vibrations through sensors in their feet and knees. Many species create sounds by rubbing body parts together - a process called stridulation. These sounds travel as ground vibrations, detected by organs in their legs.
Some ants drum their abdomens against the ground to create warning signals, triggering similar responses from nestmates. This drumming system rapidly alerts entire colonies to potential threats, showcasing another aspect of their sophisticated communication toolkit.
Types of Ants Your Children Might Encounter
Let's meet some fascinating ant species your children are likely to spot during their outdoor adventures.
Carpenter ants
These impressive ants measure 7-13 mm and earn their name from their wood-hollowing habits. Don't mistake them for termites, though – carpenter ants don't actually eat wood. They simply excavate galleries inside it, leaving behind sawdust-like material called frass outside their nests. You'll typically find these black or dark-coloured ants in damp, decaying wood, particularly around window frames, porch posts, or areas with plumbing leaks. While industrious, they can cause significant structural damage to buildings over time.
Fire ants and red ants
Fire ants have earned their fearsome reputation through aggressive behaviour – disturb their distinctive mound-shaped nests and watch them swarm immediately! These small reddish-brown insects don't simply bite. They grasp with their mandibles before injecting venom through their stinger. The result is a painful, burning sensation followed by itchy blisters lasting several days. Here's a useful identification tip: true fire ants have two bumps between their thorax and abdomen, whilst most red ants have only one.
Flying ants and ants with wings
Flying ants aren't a separate species. They're actually reproductive males and new queens (called alates) from common ant species. These winged insects emerge from established colonies specifically for mating flights. After mating, males typically die within days, while fertilised queens shed their wings and use stored sperm to establish new colonies.
Do flying ants bite?
Flying ants can bite when they feel threatened. Most UK species, primarily black garden ants, inflict relatively mild bites. However, certain flying ants, especially fire ant reproductives, can deliver painful stings alongside bites. Remember, flying ants focus mainly on mating rather than aggression.
Flying ants day in the UK
This annual summer phenomenon sees massive numbers of flying ants emerge simultaneously across Britain. Primarily involving black garden ants (Lasius niger), these synchronised mating flights typically occur on warm, humid July or August days following rainfall. Contrary to popular belief, there's no single "flying ant day" – it's actually a season where different colonies swarm at various times depending on local weather conditions. These swarms provide a welcome feast for birds, making them ecologically significant.
Your Antkeeping Journey Starts Here
What an incredible journey through the miniature world beneath our feet! These tiny creatures truly deserve our respect and admiration. Their superhuman strength, chemical communication networks, and complex societies make them some of nature's most fascinating residents.
We've explored how ants survived alongside dinosaurs and continue to thrive today. Their remarkable adaptations - from dual stomachs to living rafts - showcase millions of years of evolution at work. Each species brings something unique to our planet's ecosystem.
The next time you spot an ant trail with your children, pause for a moment. Watch these industrious workers following their invisible chemical highways. Consider the bustling cities hidden beneath the soil and the remarkable social organisation happening right under your nose.
Why not take your fascination further? Setting up an ant farm offers children hands-on learning about these amazing insects. We've been helping families discover the joy of antkeeping for over 22 years, and we know firsthand how captivating these creatures become once you start observing their daily lives.
Key lessons ants teach us:
Cooperation achieves extraordinary results
Every individual has an important role to play
Persistence and hard work pay off
Communication builds strong communities
Small actions can have big impacts
Learning about ants opens children's eyes to the natural world around them. These tiny teachers show us that size doesn't determine importance - together, ants move mountains (or at least impressive amounts of soil!).
Ready to start your own antkeeping adventure? Browse our selection of queen ants and ant farms made for children to bring this fascinating world into your home. Join our community of passionate antkeepers and discover just how rewarding these miniature marvels can be.
Trust the professionals - we're here to help you every step of the way.
Key Takeaways
Discover the fascinating world of ants through these remarkable insights that will captivate children and spark their curiosity about nature's most industrious creatures.
• Ants possess superhuman strength, lifting 50 times their body weight - equivalent to humans lifting cars overhead
• These ancient insects have two stomachs: one for personal food and another for sharing with colony members
• Ants communicate through chemical trails called pheromones, creating invisible highways to guide nestmates to food sources
• Colonies operate like sophisticated cities with queens, workers, and drones, each fulfilling specific roles for survival
• Flying ants aren't separate species but reproductive ants on mating flights, particularly visible during UK summer swarms
• With 20 quadrillion ants worldwide, they outweigh all wild birds and mammals combined, making them ecological powerhouses
These tiny creatures demonstrate that size doesn't determine impact - their cooperation, communication, and adaptability have made them one of Earth's most successful species for over 140 million years.
FAQs
Q1. What amazing strength do ants possess?
Leafcutter ants can lift 50 times their own body weight. If humans had this strength, we could lift a car above our heads!
Q2. How do ants communicate with each other?
Ants primarily communicate using chemical signals called pheromones. They leave these scent trails to guide other ants to food sources or alert the colony to danger.
Q3. Do ants sleep?
Yes, ants do sleep, but not like humans. Worker ants take about 250 one-minute micro-naps daily, totalling nearly five hours of sleep. Queen ants sleep more, around nine hours daily in 90 5 to 7-minute naps.
Q4. Why do we see flying ants?
Flying ants are not a separate species. They are reproductive males and new queens from common ant species that emerge for mating flights, typically during warm summer days in the UK.
Q5. How long have ants been around?
Ants have an ancient lineage dating back 140-168 million years to the Jurassic period. They first appeared around 90 million years ago, meaning they coexisted with dinosaurs towards the end of the dinosaurs' era.
