Ants can be a nuisance when they get into your house or you are having a picnic with friends, but they are fascinating little creatures.
Here are a few weird and wonderful facts about ants that will let you see them in a whole new light!
Farmer Ants
Humans aren’t the only ones that farm. Just like we raise livestock for food, ants will do the same with other insects. Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid, secreted by Aphids. Ants will shelter them in their nests and protect them from their natural predators and heavy rains in order to have access to a constant supply of honeydew. Some ants even cultivate a garden of fungus grown with pieces of dead vegetable matter, dead insects, and insect droppings that they can munch on when other food sources are scarce.
Nature’s champion weight lifters
Ants might be small in stature, but they are incredibly strong! They can lift objects 10 to 50 times its own body weight. If humans had the same strength, your 9 year old niece would have been able to lift up a car!
They hear it in their…feet
Ants don’t have ears, but they “hear” by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet.
Female exclusive colonies
Mycocepurus smithii ants found in Latin America can reproduce asexually. This means that they don’t need a male partner to procreate! This has lead to some colonies being all-female and are reproduced via cloning. Each offspring’s DNA is identical to the queen’s.
Ants are good for the ecology
Ants benefit ecosystems by dispersing seeds, pollinating plants and improving the quality of soil.
Say whaaaat?
If you added the mass of all the humans in the world and all the ants in the world, they would be equal!
We hope you enjoyed these interesting factoids about ants, who knows, it might make for some interesting conversations at your next picnic.
If unfortunately they have invaded your home and have become a problem, Give Us a Call to address your ant infestation.
