Why do ants flock together?

Ants are social insects, living in groups and having their own homes. Most ants' homes are underground, where they can't easily find rich food. When the weather is sunny and warm, we often see swarms of ants crawling on the ground. If you look carefully, or if you sprinkle some bread crumbs in front of it, you will see that when they reach the food place, they begin to carry the delicious food you prepared for them. If one ant can't move, two, three or more ants will come up and move together. When they get food, they will climb home in an orderly way along their own route and drag the food back to the storage room for a full meal later. This is the role of pheromones.

There are generally five grades: queen, female, male, worker and soldier. Some species live in nests of other species, and their larvae are fed by worker ants of the host.

1. Queen ant: The female with reproductive ability, or female ant, or queen ant, is the largest in the colony, especially with large abdomen, developed reproductive organs, short antennae, small chest and feet, wings, wings falling off or no wings. The main responsibility is to lay eggs, breed offspring and manage this big family.

2. Female ant: a female with reproductive ability after mating. After mating, she lost her wings and became a new queen ant, commonly known as "princess" or "angel".

3. Male ant: or father ant. Small head, undeveloped upper jaw and slender tentacles. There are developed reproductive ant organs and external genitalia, whose main function is to mate with the queen, commonly known as "prince" or "mosquito".

4. Worker ants: capable ants. Wingless, undeveloped females are usually the smallest in the population, but the largest in number. The compound eye is very small, and the monocle is very small or not. The maxilla, antennae and three pairs of feet are well developed and good at walking. Worker ants are infertile. The main duties of worker ants are to build and expand nests, collect food and feed larvae and queens. In order to hibernate, ants have to eat a lot of food in autumn to store their body fat, but they don't eat in the following winter. Because of this, the workers in the ant colony are looking for food almost every day to ensure that every ant colony member can eat enough food to withstand the cold winter.

5. Soldier ant: "Soldier ant" is a common name of some ant species, and it is a female ant without reproductive ability. With a big head and a well-developed upper jaw, it can crush hard food and become a fighting weapon when defending groups.