[Amazing] 25 Reasons That Ants Are Awesome
You probably don’t think about them very much. They’re small and there’s a ton of them in your front yard. Ok, so you do think of them, but mainly just when you want to mow your yard and those pesky little creatures start scattering everywhere. But with ants there is much more than meets the eye. In order to see what we mean, we’re going to have to zoom in for a much closer look at these interesting little critters. First of all, did you know that ants are one of the only other creatures besides humans that have successfully managed to domesticate other creatures? What’s more, they don’t just domesticate other animals, they also take slaves and wage war using some extremely advanced tactics. You probably would never have thought that much about these little creatures right? Well next time you see them scampering about in your yard you’ll probably be reminded of how interesting they can be. Did you know that some ants are ridiculously good at math? They will find their way back to the nest by adding and subtracting vectors in their head! There’s more to come though, as these are 25 reasons that ants are awesome!
Featured Image: wikipedia
A recent study found that about 20% of ants are useless. They are called "lazy ants"
Source: japantimes.co.jp, Image: wikipedia
Because of his work as a conservationist, there is an ant species named after Harrison Ford. It is called Pheidole harrisonfordi.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
With an average lifespan of 28 years, queen ants live longer than almost any other insect
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
When ants die, they give off a chemical that tells other ants they are dead and need to be moved away to a burial ground.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
If you spray a living ant with this same chemical, the other ants will treat the sprayed ant as if it is dead no matter what it does
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Researchers at Stanford found that the protocols harvester ants use while foraging for food are virtually identical to the protocols that control traffic on the internet. It has been called the "anternet"
Source: news.stanford.edu, Image: wikipedia
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a fungus that grows inside some species of ant. After 10 days it kills the ant and spores explode out of the ant's head on a long stalk
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Some species of carpenter ants can explode as a last line of defense. They contract their abs which ruptures their internal organs and lets loose an explosion of immobilizing and gooey guts
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Ant jaws can be so strong that some indigenous tribes use them as sutures. They get the ant to bite down around the wound and then break off the ant's body
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Only two species on Earth have ever domesticated other species...humans and ants
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
There are 14 species of ants that are known to enslave or use other species of ants
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Leaf cutter ants don't actually cut leaves. They give the leaves to fungi in their nest and then feed off of what the fungi secrete
Source: reed.edu, Image: wikipedia
Crows crush ants and rub the ant's guts all over themselves. Apparently ant guts protect against parasites
Source: avesnoir.com, Image: wikipedia
Male ants don't have fathers but females do. This is because unfertilized eggs become male, while fertilized eggs become female.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Phengaris rebeli is a butterfly whose larvae pretend to be ant larvae so that worker ants will feed them. The larvae then ascend the "ant ranks" by mimicking the sound that the queen ant would make.
Source: wikipedia
Oftentimes when the real queen ants attack the butterfly larvae, the confused worker ants will defend the larvae and kill their own queen
Source: wikipedia
When Joan Murray's parachute failed while she was skydiving she crashed into an anthill going 130 km per hour. Doctors think that being stung by ants hundreds of times actually kept her heart beating due to an immense surge of adrenaline
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Ants practice something called "social immunization". When one of the ants in the colony is infected with a fungus, they proceed to lick the ant which kills some spores and spreads immunity around the colony
Source: scientificamerican.com, Image: wikipedia
Ants are very advanced in how they wage war. They have spies, skirmishers, and will even put their weaker fighters in the front so that the stronger ones can be saved for when the enemy is weak
Source: wired.com, Image: wikipedia
Because they lack significant mass, an ant cannot be injured after falling from a height, even if you throw it out of an airplane
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Biologist Sir John Lubbock did some interesting experiments on ants during the 1800s. He found that sober ants would carry drunken friends (members of their colony) back to the nest but would throw strangers into the water
Source: wikisource.org, Image: wikipedia
Solenopsis daguerrei is a parasitic ant species that infiltrates fire ant colonies, kills the queen, and takes her place. The worker ants raise the fake queen's kids and those children eventually fly away to infect other colonies
Source: wikipedia
Sahara Desert Ants find their way back to the nest after foraging by adding and subtracting vectors in their heads. This leads to the shortest route home
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Flying ants are not a distinct species of ant. Rather, they are ants that are ready to mate. Shortly after mating, however, they die.
Source: wisegeek, Image: pixabay
These mating ants are only birthed by the queen about once per year. The vast majority of ants that you see are sterile, wingless, female worker ants
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
