Ant Facts

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Common Name: Ant
Scientific Name: Formicidae
Found: Worldwide
Diet: Omnivore
Size (L): 2mm - 25mm (0.08in - 1in)
Number of Species: 12,000
Average Lifespan: 3 months
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Colour: Brown, Black, Red
Skin Type: Shell
Favourite Food: Leaves
Habitat: Soil and cavities in wood and plants
Average Litter Size: 1,000
Main Prey: Leaves, Fungi, Insects
Predators: Insects, Echidna, Anteater
Special Features: Social insects and pincers near the mouth

The ant is a small sized invertebrate that is found all around the world,
with the exception of the polar regions including the Arctic Circle and
Antarctica. As with many other species of insect, there are numerous ant
species inhabiting many different environments all around the world.
There are more than 12,000 recognised species of ant worldwide, but
there are estimated to be nearly 14,000 in total. Ants are thought to have
developed from wasp like creatures 100 million years ago after blooming
flowers appeared on Earth.
Ants are found in many different sizes and vary in colour depending on
the species of ant. Some species of ant even have wings so are able
to fly which only extends the range of their territory. In the more humid
environment of the tropical jungles of theSouthern Hemisphere, the ants
are generally of the bigger species, often reaching more than a few
centimetres long.
Ants are extremely sociable insects and have a complex social structure
where every ant individual has a purpose (effectively a job). Ants live in
colonies and have a social structure from the worker ants that gather the
materials and food, as well as nursing and caring for the ant larvae (the
babies), to the queen ant that runs the nest and is the only female that
reproduces in her colony.
The queen ant often can live for over a year which is considerably longer
than the lives of the worker ants which only really last for a couple of
months. The queen ant produces between 800 and 1,500 eggs per day
which are fertilised by the sperm of the male ants which is present in the
nest. Remarkably, ant eggs that have not been fertilised will still hatch
but produce sterile female ants that become worker ants as they cannot
reproduce.
Ants are omnivorous animals and therefore eat a mixture of both plant
and animalmatter. The diet of the ant primarily consists of leaves, fungi,
honey, nectar, smallinsects and dead animals, although the exact diet of
the ant depends on the species. Some ants species have a more
herbivorous diet, where other species of ant mainly eat meat.
Due to their abundance and small size, ants have
numerous animals that prey on them from
tiny insects to reptiles, mammals and fish, and even certain species of
plant have also developed ways in which they can digest them.
An ant is said to be able lift up to 50 times its own body weight, and be
able to be pull more than 30 times it own body weight. This is the
equivalent of an averagehuman adult lifting a fully grown African
elephant!