Ants according to National Geographic.

Ants are common insects, but they possess unique abilities. More than 10,000 known species of ants exist worldwide. They are particularly widespread in tropical rainforests, where they can make up as much as half of all insects living in some areas.

Ants versus termites

Ants look very similar to termites, and the two are often confused, especially by nervous homeowners. However, ants have a narrow "waist" between their abdomen and thorax, which termites lack. Ants also have a large head, elbowed antennae, and powerful mandibles. These insects belong to the order Hymenoptera, which includes wasps and bees.

Social behavior

Enthusiastic social insects, ants typically live in structured nest communities that can be located underground, in ground-level mounds, or in trees. Carpenter ants nest in wood and can be destructive to buildings. Some species, such as army ants, defy the norm and do not have a permanent home, instead foraging for food for their enormous colonies during periods of migration.

Ant colonies are led by one or more queens, whose role is to lay thousands of eggs to ensure the colony's survival. The workers (the ants humans typically see) are wingless females that never reproduce, but instead forage for food, care for the queen's offspring, work on the nest, protect the colony, and perform many other functions.

Male ants often have only one role: to mate with the queen. After fulfilling this function, they may die.

Diet

Ants communicate and cooperate using chemical signals that can alert others to danger or lead them to a promising food source. They typically feed on nectar, seeds, fungi, or insects. However, some species have a more unusual diet. Military ants, for example, may prey on reptiles, birds, or even small mammals.

Unusual ant species

An Amazonian species (Allomerus decemarticulatus) cooperatively constructs vast traps from plant fibers. These traps have numerous holes, and when an insect steps on them, hundreds of ants inside use the openings to seize it with their mandibles.

Another species, the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes), is capable of forming what are known as supercolonies, which house multiple queens. On Christmas Island, Australia, the accidental introduction of yellow crazy ants in the early 20th century led to a destructive infestation. The ants pose a significant threat to the island's endemic red crab population, which is displaced from its burrow by the ants or killed while passing through the ants' nesting sites during the crabs' annual large-scale migration from the forest to the coast.

Source: National Geographic

Translation: Fourmiculture