In our article, we want to talk about incredible toilers - ants. Wherever we are, they are small and inconspicuous around us. They live throughout the earth. Especially a lot of them in the forests. Before you stop, your legs are already crawling and biting goosebumps.
What are ants?
Ants are a family of insects and a superfamily of ants. It should be noted that these are the most numerous representatives of the entire family. Why are these creatures so interesting? Despite their small size, they have a rather complicated organization of their society. There is even a whole science studying ants and their behavior, called myrmecology.
It is difficult to describe the diversity of these insects, and therefore we will only talk about forest ants, which we often see. In the middle part of Eurasia, as a rule, you can find three of their varieties. I would like to talk about them in more detail.
Red world
Mirmika is a species of small red ants, whose length is about four to five centimeters. The body has a color from yellow to red and brown. This species is most common in Eurasia. Such forest ants are often found in meadows and gardens, competing with the famous black ones. An interesting fact is that they have mastered not only wildlife, but also urban landscapes. To protect themselves, small red ants use a sting and poison, which has a rather painful effect on the body, especially when bites are numerous. Sometimes people start an allergic reaction due to acid (formic).
Mirmiki lifestyle
However, the insects themselves are capable of aggressive attack only if they have damaged their anthill in the forest. Myrmiki nests are built on the ground, under pebbles and in tree stumps, moss bumps. Their families number from 10 to 12 thousand individuals. In this case, oviparous females can be up to one hundred pieces. Members of the same family live in several nests, which are interconnected not only by ground paths, but also by underground passages. Some of these "houses" are permanent, they are populated year-round. Other buildings are seasonal in nature, insects use them only in the summer. Before wintering, all members of a huge family move to extensive permanent nests.
Small ants use their summer apartments to grow numerous larvae, pupae and root aphids.
Mirmiki prey on small invertebrates, eat flower nectar, grow aphid colonies on plant roots. Scout ants are looking for food. Having found food, they leave odor traces, then return for help to the anthill and correctly withdraw the brethren according to their own notes.
Red forest ant
This variety of ants is medium in size. But the red forest ant makes the greatest contribution to protecting forests from pests. Their value is very great. Red ants are listed in the Red Book.
Insects build their houses in the form of huge cone-shaped heaps throughout the forest. The size of the working ants reaches nine millimeters. They have a black abdomen and a brown head. They build an anthill out of needles and small twigs. This may seem like randomly scattered trash, but it is not at all. Imagine that even in heavy rains the anthill does not get a drop wet, and all its internal passages remain intact and dry. The height of the ant house reaches seventy centimeters. And sometimes even a meter and a half. Insects usually begin to be built on old stumps.
The outer part of the house is made waterproof, but the humidity inside the anthill remains consistently high. This makes it possible to smolder and decompose those plant elements of which the whole structure is built. It is this process that heats the entire home. If necessary, ants repair their house, taking out old parts and replacing them with new, dry ones. The anthill is regularly cleaned, unnecessary food debris, shells of eggs and dead individuals are carried out.
Family lifestyle
The process of internal decay never stops. Thanks to this, a zone with high temperature and humidity is formed inside the house. Larvae, eggs and pupae are stored here. There is also the home of the most important figure of the anthill - the uterus, which is engaged in laying eggs, which are later looked after by the nannies.
Each house has one ant uterus. Sometimes it happens that a young female turns one of the summer nests into an independent anthill. At the same time, it leads away a part of the working ants, since in itself it cannot exist. This forms a completely new house with its inhabitants.
If the size of the family is large enough, then the uterus of the ant can become another queen. But this happens very rarely. In any case, even the largest anthills cannot have more than two queens.
A situation is also possible when a female becomes a queen in a nest left without a uterus. However, this phenomenon happens very rarely, as a rule, in the forest it is difficult to find an orphan anthill.
What do ants eat?
Forest ants live in numerous families, each of which has its own territory, which is carefully guarded. No strangers are allowed into their lands.
Any description of an ant always begins with a story about his hard work. And there are reasons for this. Small creatures are so strong that they bring insects to the anthill that exceed them in weight. And if production is too large, then it is delivered collectively. When observing ants it may seem that they only interfere with each other, but this is not so. Whatever it was, but the prey is in the anthill. It is hard to imagine, but hardworking creatures drag a couple of thousand insects daily.
The diet of ants consists of pine sawfly larvae, caterpillars of scoops, oak leaflets, pupae of various butterflies. Experts estimate that the inhabitants of one anthill are able to protect from pests up to one hectare of forest. So much work is being done by these little creatures. It is difficult to underestimate their contribution to the health of forest stands.
The ants bringing food share it with other individuals who work as cleaners, nannies, builders. Everyone has their own responsibilities, there is a division of labor. To whom it is prepared to take into account, it is determined when it is born and depends on the needs of the anthill.
For a long time it was believed that ants are creatures similar to robots, albeit hardworking, because their interests are focused exclusively on their huge family. However, recent studies have led experts to the conclusion that each small creature has its own character, they can play, mating with each other or just rolling a ball. Apparently, these disciplined kids find time not only for work, but also for entertainment.
Black ants
Another resident of the forests is a large black ant. Work is constantly in full swing in large rotten spruce stumps, insect heads appear in round holes of the bark. This is the famous black ants. They are also called woodworms.
The big black ant is always busy with work. The construction inside the stumps never stops. Numerous galleries are constantly expanding. An interesting fact is that representatives of one family are very different from each other. Construction ants are small, but the soldiers are quite large - some individuals reach two centimeters. However, not only the external description of the ant is different, but also the manner of behavior. Workers scurry around in work, they are energetic and quick. The soldiers are slow and sedate, their movements are completely leisurely.
Underground carpenter roads
The stump in which such forest ants live is surrounded by fresh and old sawdust, which indicates ongoing work. Moreover, not a single individual is visible around the dwelling itself. It seems that insects do not leave the shelter. This is not entirely true. It’s just that the paths they use are not visible from the outside.
Black forest ants make underground tunnels in the surface soil that look like real tunnels. Where are they going? Everything is simple: a network of such moves stretches to the nearest stumps and fir trees, from there woodworms deliver insects, pollen. Underground roads are a great alternative to dangerous ground tracks. In addition, it is more difficult to reach the destination on the ground, and the ants move quickly along the corridors. Underground paths become traps for other insects falling into them. Carpenters will gladly take advantage of such prey.
The habits of black ants
Black ants love warmth, and therefore arrange their homes in stumps well warmed by the sun. Like other forest ants, they are busy working from morning to evening. They show great activity in the warm time of the day. In the morning hours they are slow because they are cold. At night, the whole anthill falls asleep, only large soldiers crawl along the stump. Small individuals do all the work associated with the uterus and its larvae. Soldiers gnaw wood, get food, protect the house. Underground tunnels save ants in bad weather. At this time, all outdoor work ends.
Forest Ant Benefits
Ants are very useful creatures. They secrete a substance called ant alcohol, used in medicine to treat arthritis, rheumatism, hepatitis, tuberculosis, diabetes mellitus, and kidney failure. Such a tool also helps with excessive hair loss.
Forest ants have a beneficial effect on the soil cover, as they loosen them, enriching them with oxygen. In addition, they are food for a number of forest birds: woodpecker, capercaillie, tit, grouse. The ants themselves destroy a significant amount of pests, which helps to preserve forest plantations.
