ants

Lemon Ants prefer to build their homes in the stems of the tree species that survive in Devil’s Gardens. As it turns out, this is not a coincidence. In the eyes of a Lemon Ant, other trees not suitable for housing their kin just get in the way and take up valuable real estate. To make their surroundings more suitable for the continued existence and growth of their colony, it’s the Lemon Ants that rub out any rival vegetation.

With the colony residing in tunnels, any openings are the primary line of defense against letting other invading ant species or potential parasites in. With their flat, saucer-shaped heads, Door Head Ant soldiers simply wedge their massive heads into the entrance of the colony, effectively plugging up the nest.

With a name like Dracula Ant, you might venture a guess as to why this species received its common name. But rather than the image of a rogue ant roaming the landscapes of Southeast Asia and Australia in search of random victims, in reality they engage in “nondestructive cannibalism”, drinking the blood of their developing young without killing them. Creepy, but not deadly.

The Western Amazon Ant is in a genus of ants commonly called Kidnapper Ants. They are obligatory social parasites – unable to feed themselves or even take care of the rest of the colony. To handle these essential tasks, they are reliant on a totally different species of ant in the genus Formica.

On a recent stroll around a local bird refuge, I was struck by the appearance of a large ants’ nest, covered with a thatch of pine needles. The type of…

There is an ant and she is next to my foot, dragging a fly up the same hill that I have just stopped trying to drag myself up. All worker ants are females…

If you’ve ever noticed a group of ants milling about on a leaf or the stem of a plant and wondered why, take a closer look. You might only be seeing half…

There are many games you probably played as a child. Games that for all intents and purposes were innocent and safe. But who would imagine that a game of…