An ideal example of the competent use of a home: the structure of an anthill
Every person at least once in his life saw an anthill. It could be a large forest "palace" of twigs or just a hole in the ground with a small mound around. But, few people know what an anthill really is and what kind of life boils inside it.
Content
What is an anthill
This word has several different meanings at once, but most often the aboveground and underground parts of the ant nest are called an anthill. As you know, ants are social insects that live in large colonies and distribute responsibilities between different individuals.
To organize the life of such communities, insects equip a dwelling with many tunnels, exits and rooms. Only thanks to proper construction and a special ventilation system, comfortable conditions and safety for all members of the colony are constantly maintained in anthills.
What are anthills
The ant family has a huge number of different species, each of which is adapted to certain living conditions. Depending on these very conditions, insects develop the most suitable way of arranging housing.
How does an anthill work?
Anthills of different types can be very different from each other in appearance, but the basic principles of building a dwelling are similar for almost everyone. The nest of these insects is a complex system of tunnels and special chambers, each of which performs its own function.
What is the above-ground part of the anthill for?
The dome that ants build above the ground performs two main functions:
- Rain protection. The upper part of the anthill is designed in such a way as to protect the ants from strong winds, snow and rain flooding.
- Comfortable temperature support. Ants are excellent architects and in their homes they equip a complex system of ventilation tunnels. This system helps them accumulate and retain heat, and prevent hypothermia of the anthill.
Ants usually do not have any strategically important chambers in the upper part of their dwelling. Inside the mound move "guards" who patrol the area and working individuals involved in the preparation of food supplies, garbage collection and other household issues of the colony.
What "rooms" can be found in the anthill
The population of one anthill can number from several thousand to several million individuals, between which responsibilities for servicing the entire colony are clearly distributed.
If you examine the anthill in detail in a section, you can understand that the life of the whole “ant city” is seething inside it and each of its “rooms” has its own purpose.
| Room | appointment |
|---|---|
| Solarium | Solarium or solar chamber, located at the highest point of the anthill. Insects use it to store heat on cool spring and autumn days. Ants enter a chamber heated by the sun, receive their "portion" of heat and return to their duties again, and others take their place. |
| Cemetery | In this chamber, ants take out garbage and waste from other chambers, as well as the bodies of dead brethren. As the chamber fills, insects cover it with earth and equip a new one instead. |
| Wintering chamber | This room is intended for wintering individuals and is located deep enough underground. Inside the winter chamber, even in frosty weather, a temperature comfortable for sleeping ants is maintained. |
| grain barn | This room is also called the pantry. Here, insects store food stocks that feed the queen, larvae and other individuals living in the anthill. |
| Royal room | The room in which the queen of ants lives is considered one of the most important chambers of the anthill. The queen spends her whole life inside this chamber, where she lays more than 1000 eggs daily. |
| Kindergarten | Inside such a chamber is the young generation of the ant family: fertilized eggs, larvae and pupae. A group of responsible workers takes care of the young and regularly brings them food. |
| barn | As you know, ants are very good at "cattle breeding". To obtain honeydew, they breed aphids, and anthills even have a special chamber for keeping them. |
| Meat pantry | Many species of ants are predators and inside anthills they equip pantries not only for plant food, but also for meat. Inside such chambers, special forager ants stack the caught prey: caterpillars, small insects and the remains of other dead animals. |
| Mushroom garden | Some species of ants are able to engage not only in "cattle breeding", but also in the cultivation of mushrooms. The genus of leaf-cutting ants includes more than 30 species, and in the nests of each of them there is always a chamber for growing mushrooms of the genus Leucocoprinus and Leucoagaricus gongylophorus. |
What are super colonies
The way of life of different types of ants does not have any special differences and the arrangement inside the anthill is always approximately the same. Most ant colonies occupy one anthill, but there are also species that unite into entire megacities. Such an association consists of several separate anthills located side by side and interconnected by a system of underground tunnels.
The largest supercolonies have been found in Japan and Southern Europe. The number of nests in such supercolonies can be in the tens of thousands, and the number of individuals living in them sometimes reaches 200-400 million.
Abandoned nest of leaf cutter ants.
Conclusion
Watching an anthill at first glance it may seem that insects are simply running back and forth uncontrollably, but in fact this is not at all the case. The work of the ant team is very well coordinated and organized, and each inhabitant of the ant nest performs its important function.
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