1. What ants look like 5. Feeling at home everywhere
2. Common and rare species 6. Much older than humans
3. Their way to communicate 7. A very diverse diet
4. Life cycle and length of life 8. Lifestyle and responsibilities


A. People’s most ancient relatives, the large monkeys we evolved from, lived on
Earth about five million years ago. A lot of creatures, that share the planet with
us now, appeared long before we did. Amazingly, some of them haven’t
changed much since that time - probably because they were created so
perfectly that no improvement was ever needed. Indeed, sharks, jellyfish and
even ordinary ants, that have been living on Earth for 100 million years
already, look much the same as in the beginning of their life-story

B. Ants are remarkable creatures as they can be found practically anywhere on
Earth. They are equally comfortable in the forest and in the desert, on the coast
and in the highlands. There are huge ant colonies in Australia, Africa, and
South America. Though ants are relatively small creatures, according to the
researchers, their mass makes up about ten per cent of the total animal biomass
on the world. Isn’t that impressive?

C. There are about 12,000 species of ants. They differ in size and lifestyle but you
can never confuse them with any other animal. All ants have armour to cover
their body, six legs with three joints each, a large head with antennae to touch
and smell, and a pair of very impressive jaws. Ants have two large eyes which
consist of many small eyes. These are called 'compound eyes'.

D. If ants were large, they would be the most scary and deadly animals in the
world. Different species of ants prefer different food but in general they can eat
almost anything! They consume nectar and liquids from flowers and plants, can
eat small insects like caterpillars and flies, and even large animals if the animal
is dead or helpless and immobile. If you leave any food like meat, cheese or
sweets outside, the ants will find it in no time!

E. Ants are social insects. They live in communities which are called colonies.
Depending on the species, there can be a different number of ants in the
colony. The largest colonies may have up to 300 million ants! Life in a colony
is very well organised. Everyone has their own job to do. The queen lays the
eggs and the workers do lots of different jobs: they feed the queen, look after
the eggs and the babies, gather or hunt for food, build and clean the nest and
lots of other jobs. The largest and strongest workers become soldiers and their
job is to guard the nest.

F. The queen can lay up to several million eggs during her lifetime which is quite
long - ant queens live for about 15 years. When the ants hatch from the eggs,
they fall into one of three categories: the future queens, the males, and the
workers. The future queens and the males have wings. When they become
adults, they leave the nest and fly away. Some of them start new nests, the
others die. The workers’ life doesn’t last long - they only live for 50-60 days.

G. Ants do not accept strangers into their colonies. Ants in a colony have a
particular smell which helps them recognise each other. If the soldier ants smell
any strangers, they kill them. As ants do not have ears, they use their antennae
not only for smelling, touching, and tasting, but for hearing too. Ants, actually,
have a very rich language but they talk to each other via touch and smell.