Ants carry more than a hundred times their weight. Several million of them live in gigantic buildings. Some of the insects are nurses, some are gardeners – and some are freezing killers.
Only at first glance do the anthills look like total chaos. Because ants organize their millions of countries tightly: Everything is regulated, from the building plan to hygiene and communication to death. Some species of ants even keep lice and grow mushroom gardens. Every animal has its task in the social ant colony, which can often be recognized by its body structure.
The social character of the ants: No life for loners
Ants – for many people this word is associated with the idea of a swarm of small, busy insects that can be very annoying in the garden, in the house or when resting in a meadow. The uncertainty as to whether these intrusive six-legged animals might bite or sting, and their uncomfortable crawling on the human skin, are reason enough to “keep a distance” from these animals physically and emotionally.
As one-sided as this image may be – the “swarm” at least corresponds very well to reality: ants can always be found in the company of conspecifics. Ants are “social” insects that are not solitary.
Always follow the ant’s nose
The key to the success of such a gigantic structure is communication in the interesting fact about ant colony. Nothing works here without a division of labor and exchange. To pass on information about food, enemies, or building materials, the ants use scent trails. Sometimes these also serve to kill rivals in your own nest in order to secure your own candidate for the queen.
Where and how ants build their nests
The vast majority of human family communities have permanent accommodation – even if (as with indigenous peoples) it is just a cave or an unstable leaf hut. A dwelling has a variety of meanings for people: it grants certain security from being accessed by others, it offers protection from adverse weather conditions, it is the center of family life to which family members return after their outdoor activities, and it is an indispensable requirement for the sheltered growth of our children.
Scout ants as tracers
If the scout ant discovers a tasty source of food, it sprays out a dotted scent trail on the way and distributes samples when it returns to the burrow. Other ants “smell the roast”, follow the scent trail and intensify it. The more fragrant a path, the more the insects follow it. A recipe for success, because this is how many ants get to where combined forces are needed. But it also works the other way round: If the path to the food is blocked, the insects leave fewer scent marks, and the congestion density decreases. With the more direct variant of traffic radio, the ants following behind are simply pushed onto another, free path.
Chunks of resin keep bacteria away from the state
Not only the ants’ communication channels are sophisticated, but also their structures. Lumps of resin are distributed on the hill. These contain active ingredients against fungi and bacteria and disinfect the ants before they crawl into the burrow. Anthills consist of underground passages that allow short transport routes and a sophisticated ventilation system that regulates the carbon dioxide and oxygen content in the building.
Intelligent ant builder
Grasscutter ants build their structures in a particularly spectacular way: chimneys, cooling towers, vestibules, and compost chambers ventilate and cool their nests. Brazilian scientists made the gigantic dimensions that an ant burrow can take on. They poured out a grass cutter ant’s nest with cement and dug it out. The building was 50 square meters and eight meters deep.
Live together, die alone
Life in the ant burrow is intelligently organized – up to and including death: The scientists at the University of Regensburg have found out that sick ants leave their nests shortly before death and die in isolation. Voluntary. Their selfless behavior serves to preserve the species: the insects move away so as not to infect the other nest inhabitants.
Invasion of the Argentine ants
But the millions of years old balance of our ants is threatened. An extremely aggressive intruder is spreading: the Argentine ant. In search of food and a nest, she is not fussy. Argentine ants can easily adapt to almost any environment. Once they have settled down somewhere, you can’t get rid of them. Several queens share the chambers per nest, there are 15 to 20 in a colony. Having more queens also means more offspring and thus more clout when fighting other ants – and more noses when searching for food. So the power of the Argentine ant continues to strengthen. In some areas of France, the Argentine ants have already destroyed all native ants.
