Ants, The Socila Insects

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ANTS, THE SOCIAL INSECTS Ants, along with bees and wasps make up the insect order Hymenoptera, can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Each year many new kinds are discovered, and scientists estimate that there may be as many as 20,000 different species in the world. Ants emerged on earth more than 100 millions years ago. Since that time, these tiny insects have developed many varied kinds of existence. But no matter how different their lives are, none live alone. Ants are social insects, they live together in organized communities, or colonies. The population of an ant colony depend on the the species. Some ants live in colonies that contain only a few members. Others hundreds, thousands, or even million of members. Within the different colonies, ants perform similar tasks: making nests, producing young, and feeding. Ants are small, usually drably colored creatures that range in size from 1/25 inch (0.1 centimeter) to more than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in length. The many different species of ants all share similar body structures. Ant colonies contain male and female members. However, most of the time the colony is populated only by females. Each ant colony has at least one queen, who is more of an egg-producing factory than a ruler. Some ant species have several queens in a colony, while a few kinds have hundreds. Male ants have a short life spans, appearing in great numbers during the mating season. Once their job-flying out and mating with the winged queens from another colony-is accomplished, they die. Most of the colony is composed of workers, small wingless females that do not breed. Some colonies also have larger, big-headed workers called major workers. There may be more than one species of ant in a colony. For example, slave-making ants kidnap other ants and bring them back to work in the colony. Young queens of other kinds

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