How Do Ants Care For Their Young?
WouterSeveral millions of ants live together in ant colonies. These ants work together to gather food, care for the young, and defend the nest. Ant colonies can form thousands of square yards of territory. Ant colonies also convert resources into products.
The ant species are almost all omnivores, and they get their nutrition from the vegetable kingdom. Their digestive organs are in their abdomen. Ants also store food in the social stomach, which is a storage tank used by the colony. Some ants also use formic acid to shoot out.
When the weather is warm and humid, virgin queens leave the nest to search for a mate. They usually mate hundreds of meters above the ground. Males die very quickly after mating with queens.
During mating, the winged male deposits sperm in the queen’s sperm sac. The queen then fertilizes the eggs with sperm from her sperm sac. The eggs will develop into males and females.
In the first generation, the queen feeds the larvae. This food is rich in protein. The larvae are then fed by workers in the second generation.
When the larvae develop into pupae, they have a whitish color and a small head. Some pupae remain naked, and others have a soft white body. The pupae eventually morph into adults, and they can spin silken cocoons.
As the colony grows, ants move into bigger nests. These nests may be as large as 4 yards in diameter. Some species have large mounds of earth on top of their nests. Others spend the winter under plant roots or inside stumps.
