What do we know about ant nests? How the anthill works: the internal structure, life and interaction of ants

About how complicated everything is arranged in the anthill, we remember biologists from school lessons. But that's how difficult it is, this is told by serious myrmecologists who study the ant society. Having become acquainted with their research, we can safely say: literally under our feet a parallel civilization is boiling and developing.

Ants are the guys on their minds. Let's start with birth. These insects belong to the Hymenoptera, which have everything with sex determination, not like humans. Males develop from unfertilized eggs and contain a single set of chromosomes, while females are endowed with a double set. In this scenario, daughters receive the entire genome from their father, and half from their mother. Sisters turn out to be closer relatives to each other than daughters to their mother.

An ant queen mother, having only one sexual contact, receives a supply of sperm that she spends her whole life - from 12 to 20 years

In many species of hymenoptera, in such a situation, only founding mothers breed, mating with males admitted to the body, and their daughters remain in “girls” and work all their short lives for the good of their sisters. Their ovipositors, as unnecessary, turn into stingers - personal combat weapons designed for defense and attack.

Entomologists call this behavior kindred altruism: most members of society refuse to breed in the name of supporting close relatives. But you will not envy a workhorse that does not know love. In many species of ants, the family structure is quite simple: this is a female, who met for a few moments with a short-lived male, and several dozen workers - her daughters.

Worker ants cannot compete for females - in fact, they themselves are unfertilized females. But there are hierarchical relations among workers, competition for the right to be in a certain area, competition for a more “prestigious” job, as well as for the right to rest, - explains the well-known scientist, head of the laboratory of behavioral ecology of communities of the Institute of Economics and Life Sciences of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Department of Comparative Psychology of Novosibirsk State University Professor Zhanna Reznikova. A few years ago in Cambridge (Great Britain) her book “Animal Intelligence” was published, where she explains the structure of the ant brotherhood.

Self-affirmation: “suitcase pose”

To stake out a place under the sun, the ants have to demonstrate a tough temper. They behave like many mammals: they jump on each other, try to rise above the enemy, defiantly walk on high, tense legs, and bite. The winner in the dispute grabs the loser by the mandibular palps and makes him squirm in the “suitcase position”. The victor carries away the crushed enemy from the battlefield, can drag him to the anthill and throw him there, so as not to interfere with his career and not appear on the same site with the winner. By the way, ants love to relax and unwind. Once inside the nest, they literally fall into nirvana - they sleep, swaying slightly on their feet.

Career guidance: not an inch to the enemy

In a small ant family, all its members can switch from one job to another, observing the principle of interchangeability. But in a densely populated community, specialization appears: for individuals assigned roles.

Ants, like people, are born unequal, explains the scientist. - But the task of the community is to use the potential given to them as efficiently as possible. Those who will guard the approaches to the anthill are identified almost immediately - these comrades from the first days of their lives demonstrate innate aggressiveness and rush into battle without reasoning. The same story with the intellectual elite of the ant family - scouts. Smart ants are able to memorize the sequence of turns on the way to the feeder and transmit information to foragers - food processors. Scouts do not have an innate block of fear, and in case of danger they can hide - nature endowed them with this quality for the sake of the survival of the whole family.

A matter of prestige: your "cockroaches"

Most insects often change their specialization when they are young - they move from shepherds to builders, from builders to nannies, from nannies to sorters. Looking for themselves. Realizing that it is not pulling, the ant switches to another activity. Or they drive him away - in this community, they don't stand on ceremony with losers. If everything goes smoothly, the ant may think it has found its life's work. Those who have not decided on a profession are destined for the role of laborers.

In the process of life, ants can change their profession many times, but no matter how hard they try, beginners cope with their duties worse than their brothers sharpened on this from their youth.

According to scientists, in the ant microcosm there is such a thing as the prestige of the profession. And views on this issue, most likely, do not coincide with human ones. For example, such a story. Among the ants there are warlike types that steal larvae and cocoons from the families of other species with a fight. When the slaves hatch children, they also become slaves and plow for a different kind of family.

Slave owners thus save on the cost of rearing eggs and larvae younger ages. Slaves work well: they quickly carry larvae from place to place in case of danger. It would seem that the family of slave owners live and rejoice. But they pull out the larvae from the slaves and carry them themselves. For them, it's a matter of prestige! Slaves are given the role of builders - a profession respected in our society among ants, apparently, is not quoted.

Main ant professions:

1. Shepherds: they guard green cows - aphids and take sweet drops - excrement (“pad”) from them.
2. Transporters: transfer the honeydew to the nest.
3. Guards: drive the enemy away from the anthill.
4. Hunters: get food for the whole family.
5. Nanny: care for offspring.
6. Foragers: Foraging outside the nest.
7. Builders.

Genetic predisposition plays an important role in choosing a specialty.

drunken orgies

Many other insects (livestock) live in anthills, which ants feed. As a payment, guests (most often aphids) add variety to the ant menu. One of the dwellers, the Lomehuza beetle, with its ether-like secretions, solders the hosts. And the drunken brethren quit their jobs, groom and cherish the beetle that devours their pupae and larvae.

Estimate!

* Even just basking in the sun, ants benefit their community. Having warmed up, they run inside the anthill and cool down there. Thanks to this, on a cool day in an anthill it is 5-10 degrees warmer than on the street.

Only numbers

* Ants settled on the planet before man for 100 million years.
* 12,000 species of ants live on the planet. The total number of these insects is 15 - 20% of the biomass of the Earth.

Original entry and comments on

At first glance, the anthill seems to be a disorderly heap of branches, coniferous needles, grass and earth. However, in fact, a real city lives its own life inside this unsightly heap. Here everyone knows his place, everything is subject to a strict schedule. These tiny insects, not having a highly developed intellect, nevertheless, ants quickly capture any suitable territories and form numerous colonies.

Article structure

How is an anthill arranged?

Most often there are dome-shaped anthills, but sometimes ants prefer to settle in rotten tree trunks, large old stumps. In regions with extremely hot climates (for example, deserts), insects build their dwellings exclusively underground. The insides of an ordinary anthill consist of large fragments of branches. Between them there are many galleries leading to individual chambers. The height of the structure varies from 30 cm to 2 m, the underground part often exceeds the ground area. The outer covering consists of small twigs, needles, grains of sand and reliably protects ants from dampness, wind and cold.

The internal chambers of the anthill can be divided into the following categories:

• « solarium"- a small chamber under the very dome of the anthill, insects bask in it in the warm season;
• « cemetery» - in this room there are waste and dead individuals;
• « wintering chamber"- located below the soil level, in it the ants survive the cold, plunging into suspended animation;
• « queen room"- here is the uterus, which is engaged in laying eggs;
• « granary» - designed to store seeds of grasses and trees;
• « manger"- chambers in which eggs ripen and ant larvae are born;
• « fridge”- they store the corpses of insects, worms and caterpillars.

Each sexually mature insect has a clear idea of ​​the location of the chambers. An increase in the anthill leads to the expansion of existing chambers and the construction of new premises. In places where there are large reserves of resources for ants (water, cereals, insects of other species), dwellings can reach gigantic sizes. In some cases, the colony population may exceed 1.5 million individuals.

Inside the dwelling, a positive temperature is constantly maintained (26-29 degrees Celsius). For this purpose, the needles and branches from the lower layer of the coating are transferred to the surface, ventilated and dried. This process is continuous, about a third of the worker ants are involved in it. Thanks to their efforts, favorable conditions for the development of larvae and the conservation of food stocks.

How is an ant colony organized?

Often the social hierarchy within an ant colony is compared to a device bee hive. These two species are similar in many ways, but still the behavior of ants is much more complicated. Just like in human society, these insects have a strict division into classes. Each mature individual has its own purpose.

Depending on a set of certain qualities, each insect is assigned to a particular social post. This takes into account the personal qualities of the individual - excessive aggressiveness, acute sense of smell, reaction speed. In the hierarchy of any anthill there are the following categories of individuals:

• invaders- the most aggressive group in the anthill, attacks neighboring colonies, seizes territories;
• orderlies- isolate sick and wounded ants, if necessary, play the role of surgeons - the injured limb is often amputated (bited off);
• builders one of the largest social groups. They are engaged in the repair of premises, the external coating of the dwelling. Throughout life, they dig new tunnels, carry needles and twigs, maintain the microclimate inside the anthill;
• babysitting- take care of the offspring, from the appearance of the egg to the maturation of the individual. They are constantly near the larvae, turn over, control the process of hatching from eggs and feed the growing offspring;
• guards- they are engaged in guarding the entrances and exits of the anthill, in case of an attack they attack the enemy and do not allow him to get inside the dwelling. Among this category there are the most casualties, attacks on neighbors are a common thing for neighboring colonies. In addition, birds and some animals love to eat ants, and the guards never leave their posts, protecting the entrance to the last.
• foragers. The largest group in the colony. Their mission is to get food for the entire anthill. Every day, miners go in search of food - grass seeds, dead and weakened insects, fruits and berries. If one ant finds a large insect (caterpillar, beetle), then with the help of special signals it communicates with fellow tribesmen, “telling” about the prey. Together, insects can drag even a dead rodent. Often there are attacks on weakened or injured bees, worms, mice. From numerous bites, the victim dies and becomes food for the colony;
• shepherds. Another amazing feature of these insects is that they have peculiar pets. Grass aphids feed on plants, and the liquid released in the process - honeydew - is collected by ants. This liquid is a waste product of aphids, has a sweetish taste and is a kind of delicacy for insects. The carbohydrates contained in the honeydew provide the ants with energy. Therefore, aphids are collected in a kind of “herds” and protected in every possible way (for example, from theft by ants from neighboring colonies). To increase the amount of honeydew, shepherds tickle the belly of their cows, stimulating the production of a valuable substance;
• carriers- work together with the shepherds, their main task is to carry the honeydew to special chambers. If necessary, they engage in battle with the invaders;
• storekeepers- are responsible for maintaining stocks inside the chambers. Monitor maintenance temperature regime and stock safety. It is on them that the life of the colony depends in the winter months, since the competent conservation of food resources ensures the prosperity of the anthill;

Depending on the habitat, special “professions” appear. For example, leaf-cutting ants that live in forests collect the leaves of certain trees and plants. After they are transferred to the anthill, twisted in a special way and used to grow mushrooms, which are one of the main products in their diet.

Ant life in an anthill

Each ant colony, regardless of species, has one or more queens. This is a large sexually mature individual, a characteristic difference is large transparent wings. They are necessary to search for males, immediately after successful fertilization, the need for them disappears and they disappear. The life span of the queen is 3 to 6 years, almost twice as long as the average worker. There are cases when the queen lived to be 13 years old, while insects live longer in regions with temperate climate. Male drones live the least, their life span is not more than a month. After fertilization of the uterus, they are killed as unnecessary.

The fertilized queen lays her eggs in the deepest and most extensive chamber of the anthill, deep underground. This is necessary to protect offspring from predators, temperature changes and other dangerous factors. The way of life of the queen for each species is different. So, wild forest ants have several hundred young unfertilized females in the colony. After mating, females lay eggs throughout the forest, next to them new colonies form.

Ants living next to humans always have several dozen male drones in the colony. The vast majority of the population consists of underdeveloped females. In a small colony, there is only one queen uterus, carrying out the continuation of the family. If the conditions in the house or apartment are favorable (warmth, dampness, unsanitary conditions), then the number of ants increases rapidly. In this case, there are several new queens capable of reproduction. These females do not form new colonies, but remain part of the existing one. Of course, with an increase in the number of queens, the spread of ants around the house accelerates.

Ant Relationships

Among these small insects there is also a peculiar struggle for power. For example, in colonies of red ants, cases of colonies of another species were observed. The queen uterus finds a colony of black or forest relatives weakened as a result of the attack and takes the place of the dead queen. After she lays eggs, and when red ants hatch from them, they actually enslave a colony of another species.

The reverse situation also takes place. During the attack of one anthill on another, soldiers steal the eggs of opponents and take them to themselves. After the hatched insects become servants and work all their lives for the benefit of a foreign colony. The life of many varieties of tropical ants is built on this principle: for example, Amazon ants are exclusively engaged in attacks on neighbors and capturing larvae, work inside their dwellings and life support occur exclusively at the expense of slaves.

Ants are very interesting creatures. They amaze with their quantity, social life and the ability to build amazing nests - anthills. Internal organization anthill is difficult - not every architectural structure belonging to man can be compared with the creation of these insects. Ant nests are different sizes- from an acorn to a tower, up to 2.5 m high, built from various building materials, can be located both on the ground and on stumps and tree trunks. In this article we will tell you what the structure of such dwellings is and how insects live in them.

What is an anthill

Probably, as a child, you knew what an anthill is and how it looks in nature. But we see only a mound above the ground, and the underground part of the nest is much larger, it is represented by many passages and special chambers. Such a structure allows insects to regulate the microclimate in the nest. Ants plug the exits with resin at night to keep warm, and open the ventilation holes in the morning.

How do ants build an anthill and what materials do they use to build it? AT natural conditions building material enough. Insects use dry wood, bark, needles, twigs and soil, sticking them together with their own saliva. Such a roof serves as a good protection from bad weather. Inside the anthill, insects break through many tunnels and chambers, while taking out several tons of soil.

nest structure

In the photo you can see what the anthill looks like, but what is inside it? Ant nests have a very complex structure:

Look at the photo of the anthill in the forest, filed above - its structure and functional distribution of “rooms” are clearly visible here.

Social life inside the nest

An anthill is like a city in which all residents have their own profession. There are caretakers here who take care of the larvae and regularly take them to Fresh air. Some insects work as surgeons, biting off their diseased limbs to others. The soldiers protect their colony from enemies, while the worker caste is engaged in obtaining food, building a nest and repairing it. To protect the family from starvation during difficult times, some individuals turn into nectar keepers, accumulating sweets in their abdomen. nutrient. Some ants are engaged in cattle breeding, breeding aphids, others in agriculture, growing mushrooms.

At the top of the ant social hierarchy is the queen, the fertile female. After fertilization, she can either herself or with other females establish a new colony. First, the female digs a small tunnel in the ground and lays her eggs there. Until her children turn into adults, she will starve, feeding the larvae. But when her daughters grow up and can get food, the life of the queen will become much easier - now her mission will only be to lay eggs.

Some females cannot establish a colony on their own, so they look for another way to rise to power. A female red wood ant finds a colony that has lost its queen and takes its place. From the eggs laid by her, red ants grow, which over time displace the old-timers. There are females who do not want to wait until the old queen passes away herself. A female with a certain charisma comes to a foreign colony, charms the worker ants, and they allow her to kill the former queen and take her place. Some types of ants are real slave owners, they attack someone else's nest, take pupae from there, and then use them for their own purposes as slaves.

Many are interested in how many ants fit in an anthill. It depends on the size of the nest. For example, in ordinary nest The red wood ant lives about one and a half million adults. The cohabitation of such a large group of organisms is governed by their social behavior and the strict hierarchy described above.

At the head of the anthill is usually the uterus is a large insect, which continuously lays eggs, providing the replenishment of the community with new residents. Worker ants solve daily tasks of caring for eggs and pupae, searching for food, repairing the anthill. Soldiers stand guard over the entrances to the dwelling and cut off strangers. Males and females participate in the process of reproduction.

soldiers

Ants warriors are a separate subspecies of simple workers, slightly different from the last large sizes. In addition, such an ant more developed mandibles, the muscles of which occupy most of the head. In some species of ants, due to the characteristic structure of the head, the soldiers have lost the ability to eat independently - as a result, the workers have to feed them.

The main function of soldier ants in the community is the protection of the territory and the anthill from the penetration of enemies into it, the protection of foragers who deliver food. In addition, soldiers with their powerful jaws help to break up the prey into several parts if the workers cannot carry it away on their own.

The role of the worker ant in the family and structural features

Builder ants are the first species which appears in the uterus after the foundation of a new anthill. It is they who are engaged in the construction of the colony, the preparation of food and the care of eggs and pupae. In a developed anthill, workers have a predominant number among all individuals.

REFERENCE! The distribution of professions among ant workers depends on their general condition and mental inclinations.

So, initiative insects with a good reaction become scouts and hunters, and slow and unhurried individuals go to pasture aphids and collect sweetish secretions. In addition, the change of profession occurs with aging.

Juveniles usually do work inside the nest - taking care of the eggs, females, build new passages and chambers.

In the event that a significant part of the workers of one profession dies - for example, they are destroyed by birds or as a result chemical processing, their duties are redistributed among the remaining inhabitants of the anthill.

How strong are ants and how much weight do they lift?

The insect has a huge margin of endurance - an ant can lift and carry 50 times its own weight. Moreover, if several individuals work together and combine their efforts, this indicator can increase many times over. This is possible due to the fact that the ant has a large percentage of muscles per unit of body mass.

The strength of ants allows them to successfully complete the tasks of finding and harvesting food. If the insect is not able to pick up prey, it can drag it along for a long time.

REFERENCE! Many ants, connecting with their paws, can form long living bridges to overcome streams or crevices. Such ligaments can withstand a weight of several kilograms.

Who is the main king ant?

All life in an anthill relies to the queen mother. It does not participate either in the protection of the anthill or in the collection of food, however, it is this individual who is entrusted with the task of maintaining and increasing the number of the colony.

A uterus is a former female that has been fertilized by a male and was able to organize a new anthill. In the process of growing the first population, they bite off their wings.

The uterus lives up to 20 years, laying up to 500 thousand eggs during this time. As long as this individual is alive, the colony has every chance of recovery, no matter what losses it suffers.

In the anthill, the hierarchy of society is clearly established. At the head of the entire settlement is the uterus. The most numerous are workers who, depending on their preferences, can perform a variety of tasks - searching for food, reconnaissance, caring for the uterus and eggs. Soldiers are individuals with large powerful jaws that guard the anthill and foragers.

How do they live there? There is a great quote from Lewis Thomas on this score: “Ants are so much like us humans that it’s even somehow embarrassing. They grow mushrooms, raise aphids as milk cows, send armies of soldiers to war, spray chemicals to scare and confuse the enemy, capture slaves, exploit child labor, and constantly exchange information. In short, they do everything - except that they don’t watch TV.

Ants are almost like humans. There is an initial set of qualities: aggressiveness, intelligence, enterprise, speed of reactions, the ability to interact with others. Depending on them, each ant gets his profession.

The queen of ants is the uterus - a sexually mature female. The uterus is able to establish a new anthill. To do this, she digs a small underground corridor, where she later lays her eggs.

Ants have a specialty - a security guard. It is received by those individuals who show aggressiveness early. Of course, they also have intelligence, but not as developed: it is not so important for soldiers to reason - they must rush to protect common resources without any hesitation.

Another profession is honeydew pickers. In a sense, ants have their own pets. Aphids feed on plant sap and secrete drops of a sweetish liquid called honeydew. Mutually beneficial cooperation has been established between ants and aphids. Ants collect honeydew - for them it is tasty and nutritious food, the main source of carbohydrates. And as a return service, they protect their green cows from predators.

There is also a division of labor among honeydew collectors. You can, of course, alone get the treasured drop of sweet liquid and drag it into the anthill yourself. But this is irrational from the point of view of logistics.

Therefore, there are ants that work as shepherds (or milkers): they tickle aphids, providing high milk yields. And the resulting products are transported by others.

Ants carefully monitor the condition of their homes. An average-sized anthill consists of 4–6 million needles and twigs. Every day, hundreds of builder ants carry them from above into the depths of the anthill, and from the lower floors to the top.

This ensures a stable moisture regime of the nest, and therefore the dome of the anthill remains dry after rain, does not rot or become moldy.

Even in the anthill there are hospitals where doctors, for example, surgeons, work. And if one of their inhabitants injured a limb, that is, an arm or a leg, then the surgeons amputate it (bite off).

Also necessarily in the ant family there are "custodians" of nectar. They are needed for that unforeseen case, if there is a famine in the anthill and the worker ants can no longer get food.

Slavery is common in some species. Ants attack someone else's anthill and steal pupae. Raised then in someone else's anthill, the captives work for his good.

Another thing is surprising: in the ant family, no “think tank” is found that would control the common efforts to achieve desired result, whether it's repairing an anthill, getting food, or protecting yourself from enemies. Moreover, the anatomy of an individual ant - a scout, a worker, or an ant queen - does not allow one to place this "think tank" in an individual ant.

Its physical dimensions are too small nervous system, and the volume of programs and data accumulated by generations necessary to control the life of the anthill is too large.

Anthill in section

01. A covering of needles and twigs. Protects the dwelling from the vicissitudes of the weather, is repaired and updated by worker ants.

02. "Solarium" - a chamber heated by the rays of the sun. In the spring, the inhabitants come here to warm themselves.