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Like all insects, ants have six legs. Each leg has three joints. The
legs of the ant are very strong so they can run very quickly. If a man
could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as
a racehorse. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. An ant
brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million
so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a
human:
The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days. Ants use their
antenae not only for touch, but also for their sense of smell. The
head of the ant has a pair of large, strong jaws. The jaws open and
shut sideways like a pair of scissors. Adult ants cannot chew and
swallow solid food. Instead they swallow the juice which they squeeze
from pieces of food. They throw away the dry part that is left over.
The ant has two eyes, each eye is made of many smaller eyes, these are
called compound eyes. The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs.
One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food
to be shared with other ants. Like all insects, the outside of their
body is covered with a hard armour this is called the exoskeleton.
Ants have four distinct growing stages, the egg, larva, pupa and the
adult. Biologists classify ants as a special group of wasps.
(Hymenoptera Formicidae) There are over 10000 known species of ants.
Each ant colony has at least one or more queens.
The job of the queen is to lay eggs which the worker ants look after.
Worker ants are sterile, they look for food, look after the young, and
defend the nest from unwanted visitors. Ants are clean and tidy
insects. Some worker ants are given the job of taking the rubbish from
the nest and putting it outside in a special rubbish dump! Each colony
of ants has its own smell. In this way, intruders can be recognized
immediately. Many ants such as the common Red species have a sting
which they use to defend their nest.
The common Black Ants and Wood Ants have no sting, but they can squirt
a spray of formic acid. Some birds put ants in their feathers because
the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of the parasites. The
Slave-Maker Ant (Polyergus Rufescens) raids the nests of other ants
and steals their pupae. When these new ants hatch, they work as slaves
within the colony. The worker ants keep the eggs and larvae in
different groups according to ages.
At night the worker ants move the eggs and larvae deep into the nest
to protect them from the cold. During the daytime, the worker ants
move the eggs and larvae of the colony to the top of the nest so that
they can be warmer. If a worker ant has found a good source for food,
it leaves a trail of scent so that the other ants in the colony can
find the food. Army Ants are nomadic and they are always moving. They
carry their larvae and their eggs with them in a long column.
Advice for Ants:
When treating for Ant
infestations always try to identify the actual nest, apply Agrothrin
dust directly to the nest and surrounding areas as well as a residual
insecticide such as Protector C, Agrocypa or Agrodelta. Protector CIK
will also kill Ants and leave a residual insecticide in place for up
to six weeks
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