They can spoil your picnic and they can invade your space… But… They are kinda neat! Yeah, I said it! Ants have been around a lot longer than you think! Below are some interesting facts you may or may not know about our most common pest.
- Researchers believe that ants (as a species) are around 140-168 million years old. That means they lived alongside dinosaurs during the Jurassic period!
- Scientists believe that there are around 1 million ants for every single person on earth.
- An ant reaches adulthood in just 26 days
- The average ant weighs around 5mg.
- Ants are attracted to sweets and sours. They love sugars both natural and man-made.
- Ants carry out necrophoresis behaviour. Meaning, they will carry the bodies of their own members of their colony and burry them. Scientists have concluded that they do this to protest the rest of the colony.
- An ant can carry up to 50 times it’s own body weight
- There are around 13,000 different species of ants in the world.
- Ants have a very strong sense of smell. When an ant is squished, they release oleic acid. Other ants will smell this scent out which is how they are able to find the carcass so quickly.
- Ants release pheromones when they travel from their nest to a destination. So they don’t lose their way, the ants will use the scent to find their way back.