How Do Ants Communicate And There Hierarchy Work

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Ants communicate with each other using a wide array of pheromones. Pheromones are secreted or excreted hormones that trigger a response from members of the same species. The ants smell the pheromones using their antennae. The antennae are able to not only distinguish which pheromone it has detected but what direction and intensity the pheromone has as well.

As the majority of ant species live on the ground, ants commonly lay pheromone trails along the ground that mark the way to and from the colony. As more ants move along the trail, the pheromone path becomes more intense and more ants will head down it. As the food source becomes depleted, the trail becomes weaker and fewer ants will go down the path. While this may sound like an awkward mechanism, it is actually an incredibly effective method from a systemic, rather than individual, viewpoint.

Ants also use pheromones as an alarm. When an ant is crushed, they release an alarm pheromone that sends other proximate ants in to attack. There are even some ant species that use propaganda pheromones to confound enemy ants and make them fight each other. Pheromones are also used to command worker ants regarding specific tasks and they can even tell the workers when the queen is no longer infertile.

Ants Hierarchy:

Within the colony there are a number of different types of ants who have specific functions within the hierarchy.

Generally speaking, a colony is made up of a queen ant, her brood, worker ants and soldier ants. The queen is much larger than normal fertile ant and for most of her long life she will push out hundreds or even thousands of eggs a day. The soldier ants sole responsibility is protecting the colony. The infertile female workers have three main tasks; they look for food, take care of the queen and her brood and look after the soldier ants.
The soldier ants cannot look for food themselves because their mandibles are so big, meaning they have to be fed by the worker ants.

Within the colony all ants serve the queen, as she is the sole reproducer. All the other ants provide the necessities of life and protect the colony from attack. Ants use a complex array of chemicals to communicate and maintain order and control within the colony.

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