Ants and Their Ways

   Living together like a family, ants build massive colonies. Because there are many different ants in the colony, there need to be many different jobs. Typically, there are 2,000 to 10,000 ants in a colony. Meadow ants carefully construct a hill leading into the earth. This hill leads to rooms. Despite their size, the meadow ants colony can grow to have 8 million ants, which is considered amazing for their kind. While ants are very small, they work together to build colonies because a single ant cannot survive on its own.

   Every colony has nurse ants. Below the ground, nurse ants can be found bustling back and forth to care for the eggs. Although they are very small, meadow ants larvae require constant care. Nurse ants also work very hard to keep the eggs clean. Ironically, nurse ants are very small, but help the colony grow to be gargantuan. Growing rapidly, the larvae gobble down more than any other ant in the entire colony. which keeps the nurse ants very busy. Although the nurse ants are small, they play an important part in the colony because it cannot grow without their help.

   Protecting the worker ants, soldier ants are important to every leafcutter colony. Fittingly, they are the largest and most likely the strongest in the colony. While protecting the worker ants, they also keep watch for signs of peril. Soldier ants have strong jaws. Above the nest, soldier ants heroically transport the bulky seeds because the worker ants cannot do it by themselves. Soldier ants also make sure the path is clear, which is critical to make sure every ant stays safe. Every ant can feel safe when the soldier ants are on the job