Wood ant

Ants, together with wasps, belong to the hymenoptera lineage. New anthills are established by males and females flying away from the old nest to become independent. After the mating, which then occurs, the males die. Females lose their wings and look for a suitable place to build a new anthill. The queen ant takes care of the first clutch of eggs and watches over the larvae until they mature. The first workers of the new anthill will hatch. After that, the queen does nothing but lay eggs. Once mated, she can lay fertilized eggs for the rest of her life. If a good anthill has been established, winged males and females soon begin to appear. They then fly away to establish a new colony. About 800,000 ants live in one anthill.

Ants are also known to engage in “livestock farming”, raising aphids, which they take care of by protecting and milking them. This sweet aphid secretion is their primary food source, but they also prey on invertebrates such as insects and spiders. The routes which they seek food on can be up to 100 meters long.

The ant holds the record for being the best weightlifter and transporter. Even though it only weighs 8 milligrams, it can lift and carry prey or various objects up to 31 times heavier than itself. The ant searches for the most convenient path with its load, while not losing its orientation. If the prey or object is too heavy, the ants carry it together in perfect synergy.

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People have long used ants, more precisely, formic acid, which they produce and can be used to treat rheumatism. Healers recommended inserting rheumatic limbs directly into anthills. This somewhat painful treatment was effective but it was necessary to know the rate of ants' activity, more precisely, their formic acid. Usually they counted up to fifty, so that the patient did not overdose.