What comes to your mind when you hear the name “ant”? Pest, pest, and pest! Right? We all know them as destructive insects which have the ability of causing several havocs to our homes and environment. What else do you know about them? I bet you don’t know a bunch than how much I am going to tell you about them on this article.
Ants are socio-economic insects. This explains that they live in huge colonies and groups. They are also known to be called the “hustlers of the land and resources”. There are different species of ants in the world today. Depending on their species, ant colonies can consists of millions of ants. In a particular colony, there exist about three kinds of ants: the queen, the female workers and the males
They are one of the most common pests being found in our homes and environment. Their number one priority is to strive and work for survival. Survival in the sense that they could do anything to maintain and protect their territory. They could also travel miles and distance just to find food and shelter.
There exists about more than 11,000 species of ants in our world- a subject of constant study by entomologists and scientists.
There are fascinating and overwhelming facts about these little-giants you never knew about
1. Did you ever know than ants have no lungs? It sounds weird right? Yeah! They don’t. Study tells us that due to their small and little nature, there isn’t any space or capacity for them to house a complex respiratory system just like humans. They possess their own unique ways of respiration that helps in transporting oxygen around their bodies.
If ants don’t have lungs then how do they breathe and live? Ants breathe in oxygen through some series of tiny holes being found on the sides of their bodies called “spiracles”. The spiracles are linked through a passage of little tubes which helps in distributing oxygen throughout every cell in the bodies of ants.
2. An ant possesses no ears. Unlike every other animal, an ant has no organ for hearing. This doesn’t mean they are deaf.
Ants make use of vibrations in order to hear. They make use of vibrations in the ground to hear by picking them up in the sub genial organ being found around the knee. They make use of vibration in search of food and as an alarm signal.
3. Ants can swim. Funny enough how this little creatures could put most humans to shame.It is true that ants can swim but not all species of ants have the ability to swim. They have the ability to survive in water for a very long period of time. They make this possible by using their own method which is the doggy paddle. They could also float on water for a long period of time.
Ants are great survivors. They could also hold their breath underwater for a long period of time. They construct life boats in order to survive floods.
4. Ants are farmers. Yes, it is very true that ants are farmers, it is also being known that apart from humans, ants are the only creatures that farm other creatures. They are slave-makers.
Just like the way we humans cultivate livestock, ants do the same thing to other insects. Ants perform this act with the aphids. Ants shelter them in their nests from heavy rain showers in order to gain a constant supply of honey drew. They are also being protected from natural predators.
5. It is also known that some queen of ants can live for many years and have millions of babies. When the queen of colonies dies, such colony can only survive for few months. When the queen dies, they are rarely replaced and the workers will not be able to reproduce. The queen is being protected by an army of ants popularly known as “the soldier ants”.
6. Ants are warriors of the lands. Ants go to war in search of food and conquer new territories. If they defeat another colony in a war, they take away their eggs. When these eggs hatch; they are being turned into slaves. It is to know that when these little creatures fight, they battle to death.
7. Ants are as old as the dinosaurs. According to studies from the Harvard and Florida universities, ants first arose during the cretaceous period around 130 million years ago. They also emphasized that they were able to survive the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T extinction) that killed the dinosaurs as well as the ice age.
8. Did you know that ants have two stomachs? The overwhelming nature of this little-giant wouldn’t just stop blowing up my mind. The reason why the ant never has lungs for respiration is because of its small body and lack of sufficient space but having a second thought of it, how come they are able to possess two stomachs?
Due to their weird nature, everyone will think they are the greatest gluttons of all thoughts. The truth is that the first phase of their stomach is for holding food for their own consumption while the second phase holds food to be shared with other animals. This sounds overwhelming right?
9. Ants are known to be super powerful in strength. Yes, of course ants are ridiculously strong. They have the ability to carry between 10 and 15 times their own body weight! The amount an ant carries depends on the species. For instance the Asian weaver ant can lift 100 times its own mass.
The result of their amazing strength is due to their small size, believe it or not. Reports from the Arizona State University tell us that because of their small size, ants’ muscles have a greater cross-sectional area relative to their body size compared to other larger animals. This means that they can produce more force.
10. Some species of ants are asexual. Rather than going down the traditional route of reproduction, some Amazonian ants have taken to reproduce via cloning. It is reported that the queen ants copy themselves to genetically produce daughters, resulting in a colony with male ants.
Never the less, these creatures are known to be one of the most disrespectful creatures that ever exist. If you don’t believe my lines; wait until they stroll through the walls of your pants.
Back then at high school I once heard my teacher always emphasizing on these little creatures. My ears felt the fatigue of always hearing this story. I couldn’t take it anymore when I heard him saying that we should always think and reason like the ant. In my mind I was like, wow! What the hell am I paying my tuition fees for? Not until I decided to study these "little-giants"- as I usually call them. Then I was wowed and overwhelmed.
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