We have learned about animals and insects and the basic facts about them, but what if I told you that most animals and insects have characteristics that are a lot more than meets the eye!

     Everyone has heard of ants and almost everyone has seen an ant, but these creatures have curious behaviors and talents.  There are thousands of species of ants. According to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), “There are more than 12,000 species of ants”and each one is unique in its own way. Take for example the bullet ant. The bite from this ant is said to be the most painful bite from any insect on the planet!  The bullet ant can deliver a bite almost, if not more painful, than an actual bullet. Thus the name bullet ant.

  
     Not many people know that ants have stingers and most people also don’t know that ants can bite but for those of you who do know here is a curveball. The  Myrmicinae or the bulldog ant is the most deadly ant in the world. Located in Australia the bulldog ant will sting and bite at the same time if threatened or aggravated and one sting can kill a grown man in 15 minutes or less. This ant is no joke.                                                                

     For all the collectors out there reading this (I am also a collector) we all are always looking for the rarest stuff, right? Well, the dinosaur/dawn ant is the rarest ant in the world. With less than 1,000 in the world, this ant is severely endangered. This ant will only leave its hive if the temperature is higher than 41°F. This ant is one of the only ants on earth that is closer to a wasp than an ant. In case you didn’t know, ants evolved from wasps.

     Every now and then a worker ant leaves the nest and returns, but how do they work out the traffic system? Well, when an ant is leaving the nest it follows the scent of a type substance called a pheromone trail left by the ant that left before them. They also follow the same scent back to the nest. It is interesting that while an ant is leaving, at the same time another ant is coming back into the nest following the same trail. So how do they manage the traffic? How do they not collide with each other? And what do they do when there is an obstacle in their path? I will answer all those questions in the next article of More Than Meets The Eye.