ANT HISTORY

Ants are social insects from the family named Formicidae. They belong to the order Hymenoptera along with wasps and bees. The ancestors of ants were wasp-like (in the mid-cretaceous period) and ants have evolved from their original form between 110 and 130 million years ago. After flowering plants began to rise, the ants first began to diversify. There are currently over 12,000 different species of ants which are very easily identified by their differing antennae and body structures.

Ants are well known for working together in colonies which can range in size from a few dozen to highly organised (almost military-like) colonies which can take up large pieces of land and consist if literally millions of ants. The larger groups of ants usually consist entirely of sterile females which forme various different castes of worker ants. Almost all colonies also contain some fertile males which are called drones along with the fertile ‘queens'. All ants work together to support their colony which is why they've been known to be called superorganisms. This is what makes ants so difficult to remove from your house or home without proper knowledge as it's an ‘all-for-one' and ‘one-for-all' attitude in the minds of ants.

Almost every landmass on Earth has been colonised by ants and the only places really lacking ants of any kind are Antarctica along with a handful of remote or inhabitable islands. Ants are soldiers alright as they can thrive in almost any kind of eco-system and it is reckoned that they could possibly make up as much as 20% of the terrestrial animal bio-mass. Why? Because they can work together to tap resources, defend themselves and modify different habitats.

Ant societies have a division of labour just like typical human society and communicate with each other to solve complex problems which is why they are fascinating, but also why they can be very deadly and why having even so much as a small colony living under your stairs could turn out to be a very big nuisance indeed.

If you remember the old cartoons like Tom & Jerry where ants used to make off with whatever food was left around (usually picnic scenes) you can imagine what it must be like in real life. Not quite as funny though J

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