Save the eggs before yourselves
Today, I was clearing some rubbish away and on lifting some old polycarbonate sheeting discovered an ant’s nest beneath it. As I pulled the sheeting clear, hundreds of ants and ant’s eggs were evident, but immediately the alarmed creatures began a frenzy to collect the eggs, taking them underground to safer climbs. It was quite amazing to watch. In what initially seemed panic and chaos, the ants were actually systemically searching for lost eggs and ensuring their safe recovery with a total disregard for their own well being; incredible creatures.
A few ant facts for you to digest:
•There are more than 12,000 species of ants all over the world.
•An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight.
•Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies!
•Ants don’t have ears. Ants "hear" by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet.
•When ants fight, it is usually to the death.
•When foraging, ants leave a pheromone trail so that they know where they’ve been,
•Queen ants have wings, which they shed when they start a new nest.
•Ants don’t have lungs. Oxygen enters through tiny holes all over the body and carbon dioxide leaves through the same holes.
•When the queen of the colony dies, the colony can only survive a few months. Queens are rarely replaced and the workers are not able to.
Save the eggs before yourselves
Today, I was clearing some rubbish away and on lifting some old polycarbonate sheeting discovered an ant’s nest beneath it. As I pulled the sheeting clear, hundreds of ants and ant’s eggs were evident, but immediately the alarmed creatures began a frenzy to collect the eggs, taking them underground to safer climbs. It was quite amazing to watch. In what initially seemed panic and chaos, the ants were actually systemically searching for lost eggs and ensuring their safe recovery with a total disregard for their own well being; incredible creatures.
A few ant facts for you to digest:
•There are more than 12,000 species of ants all over the world.
•An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight.
•Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies!
•Ants don’t have ears. Ants "hear" by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet.
•When ants fight, it is usually to the death.
•When foraging, ants leave a pheromone trail so that they know where they’ve been,
•Queen ants have wings, which they shed when they start a new nest.
•Ants don’t have lungs. Oxygen enters through tiny holes all over the body and carbon dioxide leaves through the same holes.
•When the queen of the colony dies, the colony can only survive a few months. Queens are rarely replaced and the workers are not able to.