10 Interesting Facts About Ants

Ants. Are. Everywhere. In fact, there are approximately 100 trillion globally. The only continent where ants don’t live, is Antarctica. Even though these insects are quite common, ants are among the strangest, most fascinating creatures on the planet.

Don’t believe us? Here are ten of the most unusual facts about ants to prove our point.!

10 Interesting Facts About Ants 

1. There are over 12,000 different ant species around the world 

With over 12,000 ant species worldwide, their behavior is anything but uniform. Each species has a unique or surprising characteristic. For example, the common carpenter ant in North America bores through wood to create hollow living spaces. South America’s bullet ant is named for a sting so painful it feels like getting shot. Meanwhile, South India’s honeypot ants gorge themselves on so much honey that you can see it stored inside their bodies. The other 11,997 species are just as uniquely fascinating.

2. Ants Have Very Long Lifespans (Compared To Other Insects)

Insect life spans are usually talked about in terms of days or weeks… and that’s about right for some ant species—but not all of them! Queen ants of the Pogonomyrmex owyhee species, for example, can live for up to 30 years!

3. Ants Are One Of The World’s Strongest Creatures (Relative To Their Size)

An ant can carry an object that weighs fifty times its own body weight. To put that into context, that’s like a 250-pound person lifting a 13,000-pound African Bush Elephant on their own! When ants work in groups, they can lift even more. 

4. Ants Can’t Hear Airborne Sounds

Ants don't possess ears or auditory canals like mammals; instead, they "hear" by interpreting vibrations in the ground. They achieve this using specialized sensors on their feet. This vibration-sensing ability allows them to communicate with one another by deliberately generating vibrations for others to pick up.

5. Ants Are Social Insects

Ant colonies adhere to a high-specialized cast system, where each class is dependent on the others. Queen ants lay eggs, worker ants build and attend to the queen, and soldiers defend the colony from invaders. 

6. Weaver Ants Make Soccer Ball-Sized Nests

Tropical weaver ants, found in Africa, Asia, and Australia, knit leaves together to build unusual nests. They link their legs together to pull and bend leaves into position, using their own larvae to produce the silk to “stitch” them together

7. The Largest Ant Colony Was Over 3,500 Miles Wide

This “supercolony” was discovered by Swiss, French, and Danish scientists in 2000. The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) colony stretched from northern Italy across France, all the way to the Atlantic coast of Spain! The colony was actually the result of two distinct supercolonies that collided and ended up combining into one. 

8. Ants Are Quite Smart

Ants are actually widely considered the world’s smartest insects. Some ant species have as many as 250,000 brain cells in their tiny heads!

9. Ants Are As Old As Dinosaurs

Scientists have found that ants may have existed for over 130 million years.

10. An Ant Species Has The Fastest Bite In The Animal Kingdom

The appropriately-named trap jaw ant can close its jaws at up to 140 miles per hour. Ouch!

Let Assured Environments Help Tackle Your Ant Infestation

Even though ants are interesting creatures, they can also be a huge nuisance if they infest you workspace business. Luckily, at Assured Environments, we can take care of an ant infestation of any size or severity. If ants have made a nest in or around your commercial property in New York and the tri-state area, get in touch with our expert team.

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