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Insects & Arachnids: Ant
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Ants are very territorial and will attempt to fight off anything that gets in their way. They are social amongst themselves, however, and have complex job assignments. Each colony has at least one queen ant, depending on the species.
There are over 10,000 known species of ants! They build all kinds of different mounds for homes. Harvester ants are able to tunnel 15 feet below ground. The mounds have different rooms connected by tunnels that are used for storage, raising babies, and resting.
Ants are very strong for their size, and can carry 20 times their own weight.
Queen ants lay all the eggs. Worker ants cannot reproduce, so their job is simply to defend the mound and care for the queen's babies. Most species will produce winged ants during the year that leave the community to start new colonies. Ants normally live for only 45 to 60 days.
Ants can be found almost anywhere on the planet. At any given moment, there are ten thousand trillion ants alive on Earth!
Ants can't chew or swallow solid food, so they squeeze juice from their meals that they then swallow. Some ants like sugary foods like melon and honey, while others prefer foods with protein like peanut butter.
Ants are very clean insects. Worker ants are often in charge of taking garbage out and putting it in a special pile!
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If humans were as fast as ants are for their size, they could compete with racehorses.
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