In this article you will find all kinds of things worth knowing about ants. You will also find natural tips to combat ants. By the way, did you know that there is a real ban on destroying ants in Germany? Ants live all over the world:whether it's in your backyard, in the tropics or in the desert. You will find these little critters everywhere. In this article a number of interesting and fun ant facts.
Since 1880, it has been illegal in Germany to destroy the nests of red ants. The reason? Red ants eat all kinds of pests such as insect larvae. The inhabitants of one large ant nest eat 100,000 insect larvae every day. And while not everyone is happy with this ban, you have to admit that red ants are quite useful. They fight the pests in a natural way.
Honeypot ants feed on honeydew, a viscous liquid that aphids expel after they have eaten. This stuff is taken to the nest, after which a number of fellow ants are fattened with it. The fattened ants regurgitate the honeydew, after which the rest can eat the pre-processed food. There are even countries where these ants are dug up to be eaten by humans. The honey pot ants are not only sweet, but have a high nutritional value.
Weaver ants make tents for themselves. They 'sew' leaves together with silk made by their own larvae. The larvae are pressed against the leaves by the adult ants with their beaks. Finally, the mother ant also briefly presses on her child with her feelers. So we can safely say that the weaver ants use their own children as a sewing machine.
A very special ant lives in South America. It is an ant with large long jaws to catch its favorite prey:a small insect called a springtail. If this springtail is already almost cracked, it is also injected with poison by this ant. And although this seems very cruel, this same ant can also be very careful with those large long jaws:the ant carries its larvae around very carefully.
Parasol ants grow their own food. First, they make manure from a mixture of their own poo and crushed leaves. Then the manure is worked into the ground and very nutritious fungi grow on it. Harmful fungi, on the other hand, are expertly removed by the same ants. A departing queen will always take a piece of nutritious fungus with her to a new nest.
The harvest ants that live in the desert collect grains of wheat, from which they make a kind of bread. They do this by removing the chaff from the grains and then turning it into a kind of bread. This bread is then stored until the ants get hungry. The following proverb does apply to these ants:'Whoever keeps something, has something'.
A bite from the large Australian ant is not only very painful, but in the worst case can also be fatal. Thirty bites are enough to cure a person within fifteen minutes of the afterlife. It is not for nothing that the ant has the name 'Bulldog'. This one of the most dangerous ant species in the world, but not the most dangerous because they are….
Large columns of migratory ants can be found in the jungles of Africa and South America. The columns can be up to 100 m long and 2 m wide and consist of about 20 million migratory ants. Everything these ants encounter on their trek is eaten bare:from lizards to large animals, all that remains is a skeleton. People also run the risk of falling prey to this deadly column if they do not seek a safe haven in time.
In some cases, they also migrate through houses. In that case you have to be as far away as possible, the house will be completely pest free afterwards. There is nothing left of any cockroaches, spiders, mice, etc. Just bring your own pet, otherwise nothing will be left of that either.
The Indonesian predatory ants are true road builders. They make roads up to 90 m long. In our eyes perhaps a small distance for a road, but for an ant this is colossal. And not only do they build ordinary roads:the roads are also provided with a protective roof. Let's face it:where do we see those kinds of roads in our world? Yes, a tunnel is covered, but a normal road?
To make it even more beautiful, certain traffic rules apply on these roads. Every ant has to walk in line. Whether on the way to the nest or when leaving the road, the rules must be followed. The ants departing from the nest walk on both sides of the road:right and left and ants returning to the nest walk in the middle. Obstacles are immediately cleared:a large and living obstacle is bitten. A smaller obstacle is carried off the road by younger ants.
If it is an edible obstacle, then the obstacle must be taken to the nest, with the help of a number of workers. Other ants that think they can also use this road are simply killed.
– Did you know… there are more than 10,000 species of ants worldwide
– Every ant nest is ruled by a queen
– This queen lays eggs all her life
– All females are called workers
– And males only act during mating, after which they die
– Ants live quite long (if they are not destroyed by humans):a worker bee can live up to 7 years and a queen 14 years
– Ants listen with their paws
– Other insects also live in an ant nest
– Ants are quite intelligent:they orientate themselves using the rays of the sun, even on a cloudy day
– Smells influence the behavior of ants:this explains, for example, the fact that ants that catch the smell of a dead ant, they will try to bury it
Of course this depends on where the ants live. In the wild, ants are necessary to maintain the natural balance. In the garden or the house, however, they soon become a pest that we are soon rid of. To fight ants you can buy the so-called ant bait boxes in the store. This contains powder that the ants will take to their nest, after which the entire nest will be exterminated.
Our own experience shows that this is a very effective way to combat ants. However, this is not entirely harmless, as this is a very strong poison. Keep this in mind, especially if you have (small) children or pets.
1. Pour boiling hot water on the opened nest:it will be fatal for the ants
2. Ants hate cucumber peels:put them in places where ants, for example, enter the house
3. Ants don't like flour:sprinkle this in places where ants are unwanted
More ant control tips from you here.
Do you have any nice additions to my article:Ants fun and interesting facts and natural ant control? Then let me know in the comments.
