ANTS

An example of civilization In the animal kingdom

Ants have been living on earth for more than 100 million years, and can be found almost anywhere on the planet. It is estimated that there are about 20,000 different species of ants. And represent from 15-20% of the earths animal biomass

 Ants are a very good example of civilization. There are many parallels between ant societies and human societies. Things like construction, engineering, farming, and keeping livestock. In this presentation I will try to show you how ants live and where their society parallels ours.

Colony structure

Pictured is a colony that was filled in with orthodontal plaster then dug up. If you think that is a big colony though, you would be wrong. Colonies can get up to hundreds of feet deep and wide. There have even been reports of super colonies 60 miles long!.

Livestock Farming There is a symbiotic relationship between ants and aphids. That is similar to the way humanity uses cows. Aphids being the cattle and the ants being the caretakers / Ranchers.

Ants Protect the aphid eggs and carry newly hatched aphids to new plants where they feed on leaves. What the ants get out of this is a supply of honeydew, a sweet substance containing surplus sugar from the aphids diet. This supply is excreted from the aphids Anus.

Cultivation
Some species of ants actually live off cultivation from farms INSIDE the ant hill. The Leafcutter ants, collect leaves, cut it into tiny pieces and place it in their fungal gardens. Once the fungi grows, smaller ants cultivate it for food.

Child Care Here we have a photo of an ant tending to their eggs. Since the queen is constantly producing eggs to make sure the colony is at its peak, there is a specialized job given to a part of the colony just to take care of the eggs untill they hatch

Career Specialization Ants generaly, ants specialize in jobs or castes, of which there are several. There main castes are: Queen, Male, and Worker. The queen, mates with the male, and produces all of the castes. The Male has only one purpose, to mate with the queen. The workers are just that, workforce., however they also serve as soldiers that protect the colony.

Civic Duties Ants have a high civic duty, with every ant in the colony from young to old participaing in projects beneficial to the colony. From bridge building to forming rafts and ladders with their own bodies to reach inaccessible areas. There is no such thing as a lazy couch potato ant.

Fire ant raft. The ants at the bottom die but the colony survives

Armed Forces
Ants have soldiers that protect the colony from other invading colonies or animals. These ants are basically workers grown large, sometimes many times bigger than normal workers. Their size and strong cutting jaws are effective in repelling invasions.

Earth Movers
Ants are incredible earth movers, moving more than their own body weight in earth a large distance. Imagine your weight at 100lbs now double that and walk a mile and a half. That is what ants do. Repeatedly.

Social Planning Ants carefully regulate the makeup of the colony and maintain a constant ratio. If more workers are needed for the colony, the ant eggs are guided to hatch as workers. If more males are needed, then they are guided to hatch as males. The same goes for soldiers and queens.

Engineering For being so small, ants have an amazing engineering skill. They can tunnel from both sides of the colony to meed perfectly in the middle. They can construct ladders, bridges and rafts using their own bodies and assorted debris to dominate obstacles.

Education

Apart from mammals, ants are the only group that has interactive teaching. A forager with experience will lead a young nest mate to a newly discovered source of food. This mentoring teaches the young ant how to forage and produce for the colony.

Flood Control As the ant colony is found outside most of the time, they also build spaces in the colony to collect water that seeps in so that the colony is not flooded.

Sanitation Ants like to keep their colony clean, so they are constantly moving debris and trash outside. For example, the leaf cutter ant removes old composted tree cuttings from their fungi farms and takes it outside the colony.

Benefits to humanity As Food: Ever hear of chocolate covered ants? In some places ants are considered a delicacy. In Mexico they eat escamoles, ant larva harvested from agave roots. Also called Mexican caviar.

As Pests Because ant colonies are highly adaptable, they can survive almost anywhere. Because of this adaptability farmers and home owners are in a constant battle with ants.

Conclusion
As a society, ants are to be admired, what they acomplish day by day and with the sheer amount of numbers involved is mindboggleing. Add to the fact that pound for pound ants out number humans on earth, and you begin to wonder just who the dominant life form is on earth. Just about the only difference in how ant society works and how human society works is how selfless each ant is. If humanity ever learns how to work with each other like ants do in colonies, what wonders could we accomplish? What obstacles would we be able to plow through? Till then, all we can do is learn from our friends, the ants.

Bibliography

http://www.infowest.com/life/aants.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant http://science.jrank.org/pages/462/Aphids-Ants-aphids.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/waste-managers-of-theant-world-681882.html http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/mexican_ca viar_ant_larvae_or_escamoles/