The Ant Colony

Have you ever been on a picnic that was interrupted by ants? Ants are insects. The parts of an ant include the head, thorax, abdomen, antennae, and six legs. There are thousands of species of ants, and they are found living all over the world. Did you know that there is a science of studying ants that is called myrmecology?

Ants are social animals. That means they live and work together in groups. Each group of ants is called a colony. Each ant that lives in the colony has a specific role to play. There are four main roles in the ant colony. The first is the queen. The queen ant will mate with male ants and then fly to set up her colony. Once she has arrived at her nesting place, she will lose her wings and spend the rest of her life laying eggs.

The male ants have wings. They use these wings to fly and mate with the queen. Once the male ant has mated, it will die. The worker ants are non-reproducing female ants. These ants collect food and feed members of the colony. They are also responsible for defending the colony. If you see a group of ants, most of these are worker ants.

The last group of ants is called soldier ants. They are also non-reproducing ants that are bigger in size. Their main job is to defend the colony and to raid and attack other colonies.