The size of ants matters only when they are in numbers. Though the colony of an ant depends entirely upon its species, still they can reproduce and can form colonies that can reach several feet underground.
However, among those millions of ants, one ant holds significant importance to the entire ant colony: the queen ant. She is not only the leader of her colony but also without her existence, there would not any ants at all.
How an Ant Colony Works?
To understand the ant colony, you need to learn that there are four types of ants in an ant colony. First, there is the queen ant. She is the sole leader and is responsible to lay thousands of eggs. This is to ensure that the ant colony never ceases to exist. Her size is larger compared to other ants and has wings to fly.
Second, you have male ants. These are also called drones. The main objective of male ants is to mate with the queen ant and then he dies. The third category of ants is the worker ants. These ants are comprised of female ants whose main aim is to feed and protect the entire colony of ants. These ants are commonly seen everywhere outside.
The fourth is the winged males. These are also called alates. These ants are responsible to form a separate group of an ant colonies. The male ants, i.e. drones serve them while the female ants serve as their queens.
The Role of Queen Ant
The primary job of a queen ant is to bring offspring to its colony. Sometimes, these queen ants may leave their existing colony and try to establish a new ant colony elsewhere. Once she starts to bring offspring, she becomes the queen of her ant colony. The main function of the queen ant is to reproduce other members of the colony.
The death of the queen ant means that it is the death of the entire colony. This is the reason that the other members of the ant colony trying to protect her so that the predators do not locate her hiding.
The average life of an ant depends upon its species. However, an average ant can live up to a maximum of 4-15 years. Though their queens can still last for 30 years. This is because the queen never leaves her chambers.
What will happen if you Kill the Queen Ant?
Since she is the queen of the entire colony, her primary job is to bring offspring to the colony. If the queen ant dies, then the entire colony will collapse bring doom to the colony. The colony will die out and no one will be able to replace her.
