Ants That Work Together for the Good of the Colony

One of the most socially collective lifeforms on earth, ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen ants to super-sized colonies that contain millions of ants and stretch for thousands of miles. Ants belonging to the same colony all work together and will not fight each other; the common good of the colony is of the uppermost importance. Colonies are organized very tightly, with each ant belonging to a group that fulfills very specific roles within the colony. This highly cohesive social organization has led many scientist to call ants a super-organism, as they function more as a whole than as separate entities.

  1. Patrolling Ants

    • Patrolling ants wander the ant colony along independent paths, collecting and passing along information to other ants. Patrolling ants also guard the colony and create a network of information that keeps all areas of the colony updated on the state of the colony as a whole. As ant colonies grow, the paths of patrolling ants become more organized and even become straighter, and the network actually functions more efficiently. Like other worker ants, patrolling ants are sterile females.

    Soldier Ants

    • Soldier Ants work to protect the colony from invasion and attack, from both other ant colonies and other animals that are after the colony's resources. Soldier ants are also all sterile females, as female ants are the only ones who can bite.

    Forager Ants

    • Responsible for collecting debris and resources used for food and building materials, forager ants are usually the only class of ants that regularly leave the colony for extended periods of time. Forager ants scour the surrounding terrain and create a loose network within themselves so that when resources are found, the foragers can quickly mobilize and organize into a party that transports the materials back to the colony.

    Queen Ant

    • Larger than other members of the colony, the queen ant is the reproductive powerhouse of the entire colony and is responsible for ensuring its survival through the propagation of offspring. Queen ants,are closely guarded and choose the sex of their offspring by deciding whether eggs will be fertilized or not. Fertilized eggs produce female offspring while unfertilized eggs produce males.

    Male Ants

    • Male ants exist in the ant colony for one purpose only, to fertilize the queen. Male ants are winged so that they can fly around and compete for mating rights with different queens in different ant colonies, but after they mate, they lose their wings. Male ants rarely do any work or perform any active functions within the ant colony, besides mating with the queen ant.