In Proverbs 6:6, the Bible states, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” Have you ever considered the “ways” of the ant? Have you ever wondered what you might be able to learn from it? Let’s take a look at this amazing creature!

Ants are insects that usually range in length from 2 to 10 millimetres, but some can reach over one inch long. All have three sets of legs and two antennae. Their bodies are divided into three main segments: head, thorax and abdomen. There are over 11,000 different species of ants around the world!

Ants live in colonies, which are highly organised, structured societies, ranging from just a few to millions. Within these colonies, ants are divided into separate castes, or categories, depending on their responsibilities. The two main categories are the queen and worker ants. Worker ants constitute the majority of most colonies and are broken into subcategories. These ants are all daughters to the queen and are unable to mate, as the queen is the only female able to do so. (Male ants play little role in the ant colonies.) Workers, as their name indicates, do most of the work. This mainly involves building and maintaining the colony’s nest. Now that we have a general overview of ants, let’s examine some facts:

Ants primarily communicate through chemicals called pheromones. For instance, if an ant is crushed, it will emit an alarm pheromone driving nearby ants into a frenzied attack mode.

Some species, such as Amazon ants, will raid other ant colonies to steal pupae to raise in their own colonies. They then use these captives as slaves, without which they are unable to feed themselves. Some species of ants actually “farm” aphids. These ants collect (“milk”) honeydew produced by the aphids. Aphids are sometimes called ant’s cows. The ants protect the aphids from predators and even move their “cows” to greener pastures when necessary. Some species do not build underground nests. Instead, they form sheets of living ants by linking their legs together; the ants themselves provide shelter for the queen.

As the only reproductive ant in the colony, the queen is responsible for laying eggs. That means that all ants in a given colony are children of the queen. Imagine how many eggs must be laid to produce large colonies! Some examples of efficient queens include the fire ant, whose queen can lay 100 eggs per hour, and the African driver ant, whose queen can lay 3 to 4 million eggs per month!

As you can see, ant colonies are complex societies relying on each ant to perform its duties. What do we learn from the ant? Through efficiency, cooperation, and hard work, much can be accomplished! To believe that the complexity of the ant kingdom arose and developed by chance evolution is absurd!

Categories: Animals