The ant colony
The ant colony is often known as a superorganism. Thousands of ants help each other build a colony that can compete with enemies in the vicinity of the nest. The heart of the colony is the queen, the egg layer. Around her are the workers, her daughters, and from time to time male ants, her sons.
Table of Contents
Ant colonies can exist for years or even decades. And the colony lifecycle differs depending on species and environment.
Some ants might prefer the confines of a great tree, while others would rather build a nest directly in the ground. Let’s have a look at some of the most common ant nests.
Why do ants live in colonies? Why don’t the workers lay their own eggs, instead of focusing all their energy on their mother and siblings? Social evolution!
Every ant hill is unique. What they have in common is that they’re extremely well built with systems for temperature, climate and ventilation.
Important factors for a successful colony is good levels of heat and moisture. The climate affects everything from the ants themselves to tunnels and colony brood.
Ant colonies can control vast areas in which they hunt and gather supplies that they bring back to the nest. But ant colonies almost always have to fight off other ants to defend their territory.
Even though ants seem to have defences against many of the life-threatening parasites on earth, some of them still make their way into the colony.
Ants are famous for being one of natures’ first farmers. Among many activities, they herd aphids and use seeds to grow fungus gardens.