Awesome Ants

Awesome Ants

A Little History You've seen them marching through grass and across sidewalks. You may have even seen them crawling over your kitchen counter or inviting themselves to your picnic. They come in colors such as red, yellow, brown, and black. We're talking about ants--tiny, strong, awesome ants.

Ants are about 100 million years old. They were crawling around under the dinosaurs, early mammals, and ancient birds! Between then and now, they've changed a lot. Ants used to look more like wasps with shorter jaws. Today, more than 10, 000 species of ants live in deserts, rainforests, swamps, and cities on every continent except Antarctica. They have been able to survive so long because of their bodies and how they live. Through the years, they have been able to adapt to changes in their environments.

Body Parts Like all insects, ants have six legs and three body parts. The back part of their body is the abdomen. This part holds the heart and stomachs. Some ants have stingers and poison sacs that they use to protect themselves from predators. Their three pairs of legs attach to the middle part, called the thorax. Each leg has three joints and little hooks that allow ants to climb almost anything. Ants don't have ears, but they can hear by feeling vibrations through their legs and feet.

The head contains the brain, two eyes, antennae, and jaws. The jaws open and close like scissors. They are used for cutting and carrying things and also for digging and hunting. They are an ant's most important tool. Ants can lift more than twenty times their own weight. Ants also have other mouthparts for chewing food and drinking.

The two eyes, called compound eyes, are each made up of many smaller eyes. Even though ants have so many eyes, their eyesight is not very good. Instead, they use their antennae to get around. The antennae are like all-in-one sense machines. Ants use them to taste, smell, hear, and communicate with other ants through touch. The long, thin antennae bend in the middle, like a human's elbow, and are always moving around. Ants don't have lungs. Instead they breathe through small holes all over their bodies.