ant: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 7, 2026

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Facts

Also Known As	Formicidae

Photos and Videos

Illustration of a carpenter ant, Camponotus herculeanus pennsylvanicus, showing a dark, segmented body with six legs, bent antennae, and fine hairs along its body and limbs.

Close-up of a red ant queen on a green surface with a cluster of small white ant eggs beneath her head.

Honey ant repletes

Yellow meadow ant nests

Large ant hill made of loose soil with several entrances, surrounded by green plants and grass in a field.

A group of reddish ants surrounds and works together to carry a dead insect across the forest floor.

Red imported fire ants

A leafcutter ant walks along a branch while carrying a large green leaf fragment above its head.

Close-up of a Bullhorn Acacia branch with red, horn-shaped thorns housing small Acacia ants, showing their symbiotic relationship. Green leaves are visible in the background.

Hear E.O. Wilson talk about his research on how ants determine the death of another

Benefits and dangers of pine resin to ants

Follow the trails of leafcutter ants stripping rainforest foliage to cultivate fungus-based food in their nest

Observe an Eciton army ant colony migrating by night and forming a bivouac nest entirely out of themselves

Behold the multitude of Amazonian arthropods including spiders, scorpions, beetles, and mantids

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Topics

tawny crazy ant herder ant army ant corn field ant How Are Ants, Wasps, and Bees Related?What do ants eat?honey ant harvester ant Azteca Lasius heteropteran Coleoptera grasshopper wasp bee butterfly moth fly apterygote Insects That Wear Things

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Key People

E.O. Wilson

E.O. Wilson

American biologist

Charles Henry Turner.

Charles Henry Turner

American scientist

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William Morton Wheeler

American entomologist

Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus).

A Is for Animal Quiz

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination

Know Your Bugs Quiz

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz

Green tree python snake (Chondropython viridis) in a rainforest.

Creepy Crawlers Quiz

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is seen in Switzerland on December 2024

Animal Factoids

Lion (panthera leo)

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