While you might hate the fact that ants will invade your kitchen whenever you spill a few crumbs, you have to admit that ants are pretty amazing. While professional ant control from Pointe Pest Control will get the ants out of your home, ants are on earth to stay. They have been on earth much longer than people, and they have spread to every continent except for Antarctica. Here are ten amazing facts about ants that even the most ardent ant hater can appreciate. Once you have taken the time to appreciate the ants, you can then give us a call for some serious ant control.
10. Super Strength: Most ants can lift a whopping 50 times their body weight. If the average person could do the same, they would be able to lift an elephant. Some ant species take this to the extreme and can lift 100 times their body weight (that would be two elephants for you). The reason for this super strength is due to their small size. Being larger isn’t always better.
9. Wood Carvings: There is a species of ant called Carpenter Ants. Like their name implies they really like wood. In fact they live out their lives in galleries and tunnels that they carve from wood. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood; they simply use their powerful mandibles to create their domain of tunnels and pathways. Carpenter ants can be a serious problem for your home. As amazing as this ability is, if you have carpenter ants you need the ant control services provided by Pointe Pest Control.
8. Dinosaurs: Ants have been on earth since the time of the dinosaurs and have since become one of the most productive and distinct species of insect.
7. Natural Farmers: If you think that you are the only one with a vegetable garden, think again. Leaf cutter ants chew up leaves, bring the pulp back to their colony and grow a garden of fungus. They then harvest the fungus to feed the colony.
6. Natural Ranchers: If you thought farming ants were amazing, there are some species that have their own livestock. Ants protect aphids and milk them for their honey dew. The aphids get a colony of ants protecting them and the ants get a steady supply of food.
5. Marauders: Even ants have their delinquents. Thief ants build their colony next to a colony of larger ants. The smaller thief ants sneak into the neighboring colony and steal food and eat their larva.
4. Brigands: Some ants are thieves, others are far worse. Slave-making ants go on the war path, capture the brood of a different ant colony and force them to become their worker ants.
3. Poignant Pain: The bullet ant packs a sting that some people have described as being shot with a bullet. Native tribes use the ants as a rite of passage for young boys wanting to become men.
2. It’s all About the Smell: Ants cannot communicate with words, instead they use specific smells called pheromones. They use these smells to lead the colony to food, and warn the colony to act as an alarm. Fire ants use pheromones to coordinate their attacks. First they swarm your legs and then release a pheromone telling all the ants to attack at the same time. The result; you feel like your legs are on fire.
1. Bridge Builders: It is hard for army ants to live in the rain forest. All that water makes it so their nests are never located underground. Instead, their colony is always on the move. All that water has even given them the ability to create bridges. Ants lock their bodies together, and the colony is able to cross moving water with ease.
While all these ants may be incredible, they aren’t worth living with. If you have an ant infestation, give Pointe Pest Control a call. Our expert technicians will find the source of the problem and create a custom pest control solution for your home or business. Call today!
