Amazing facts about Ants

Ants are ancient ,they have been on the earth much before we arrived.They constitute  nearly 25% of total animal  weight in the tropics.Inch Ants of Australia and Jumping Ants of India qualify as some of largest ants in the world.Ants are  seasoned architects ,the design and architecture of their nest is distinctly purposeful and constructed  with patience.Ants not only care for their offsprings but also for distant relatives of colony.

Amazing facts about Ants

Communication by touch:

Morphological communication is not very well  understood. Antennating (Tapping each others antennae) is the most commonly seen form of tactile communication.Ants also tap the gaster of their nest mates  as well.The physical contact could be made to request for food or checking if ant belongs to same nest  and many times just for nothing .

Recognizing Nest mates from non-nest mates:

A unique odour  is present in each  ant’s nest.The source of the odour  is from the founder of the  colony the queen.Hence the odour differs from one colony to the other.

It is always “us” not “I”:

Cooperation coupled with an  unselfish behavior in ants .Numerous ants  have given up their ability to reproduce  only to help one or few  reproductive individuals highlights the  organization  and evolution of social life in an ant society.

No  Scanning  to identify gender of offspring like Us  :

Sex of each of the offspring  to take birth in the colony is decided and then  regulated by the queen depending  on the stage of the colony’s life cycle.

So much to learn from Ants :

Mathematical modeling inspired by ant colonies has been used in various   subjects ,for example in traffic  management .Army ants  are  amazing animals where 2.5 lakh  individuals moves   thirty  thousand  bits of food per hour without collisions .