Ant's kingdom
Ants are one of the most successful insect groups in the animal kingdom, and are of great interest because they are a social insect that forms colonies or nests (dens) sometimes containing millions of individuals. Colonies of some invasive ant species may work together to form giant colonies that span very large areas, and sometimes ant colonies can be described as a superorganism because they function as one harmonious organism
Ants occupy a large area of land and can make up about 15% of the world's animal biomass. As of 2006, there are about 11,844 known species of ants, most of which live in hot regions
Development
Ants are insects belonging to the class of Hymenoptera and have six legs. Ants are a small insect that has a huge impact as they represent 20% of all living things on the planet. Ants have been known since ancient times, according to specialists since the Cretaceous period. Dinosaurs coexisted, having existed 92 million years ago
Scientists have discovered that ants have special languages to understand each other through the technique of communicating through chemical symbols. Perhaps the words the ant gave to its people was a chemical code
The latest scientific studies have proven that each type of animal has its own scent, and within one species there are additional scents that serve as a personal card or passport to identify the personality of each animal, different families or members of different colonies
It was not surprising to find a natural history scientist (Royal and Kinson) who authored an important book called The Personality of Insects
Smell is a hidden language or silent message whose vocabulary consists of chemicals that scientists have called "pheromones." It should be noted that not all smells are from "pheromones", as humans recognize many smells in food for example, but do not communicate or understand through these smells. The researchers limit themselves to using the word "pheromone" to describe the chemical messages exchanged between animals of the same breed. Accordingly, the smell can be described as the pheromone" of a particular animal, while it is just the smell of another animal
If we apply this to the ant world, we find that ants are characterized by a special smell that indicates the nest to which they belong, and the function that each ant performs in this nest, as these pheromones are produced from a gland close to the ant. anus
Ants are found on all continents except Antarctica and only a few large islands such as Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands lack native ant species. Ants occupy a wide range of ecological domains, and are able to exploit a wide range of food resources, either directly or indirectly as herbivores, predators and sweepers. Most species are omnivorous generalists but a few are specialized feeders. Their ecological dominance over biomass can be measured, and it is estimated in various environments that they contribute 15-20% (on average, and about 25% in the tropics) to the total biomass of terrestrial animals, exceeding that of vertebrates
Ants range in size from 0.75 to 52 mm and vary in color. Most are red or black, green is less common, and some tropical species have a metallic luster. More than 12,000 species are currently known (with top estimates of around 14,000), with greater diversity in the tropics. Taxonomic studies continue to solve the classification and system of ants. Online databases of ant species, including AntBase and Hymenoptera Name Server, help keep track of known and newly described species
The relative ease with which ants can be sampled and studied in ecosystems has made them useful as
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Ants build cities, build roads, dig tunnels, store food in stores and warehouses, and some types of ants create gardens and grow plants to feed on. And some types of ants raise their livestock, so they milk nectar in their stomachs. Ants wage wars against other ant tribes, take captives of defeated ants and harness them to serve them, and some types of ants domesticate other insects in their nests to benefit from them. And God spoke the truth when he said in his dear book
It was found that if a strange ant enters a colony that it does not belong to, the ants in this colony recognize it by its smell and consider it an enemy, then start attacking it, and it is interesting that in one of the laboratory experiments. He found that removing the scent of some ants belonging to a particular clan and then adding the scent of another type of enemy to it, caused him to be attacked by members of his clan
In another experiment, an ant was dipped in the scent of a dead ant and then returned to its nest. It was noticed that his peers pulled him out of the nest because he was dead, and every time they tried to come back he was taken out again, though alive, moving and resistant. Only when the smell of death was removed was this ant allowed to remain in the nest
And when the scout ant finds a source of food, it immediately secretes the necessary "pheromone" from the glands in its stomach to locate and then returns to the nest, and on its way back do not forget to mark the way so that its colleagues can track it, and at the same time they add more secretions to facilitate the way more and more
Curiously, ants reduce their secretion when the food source dwindles and the number of individuals to the food source is reduced, and when this source is completely depleted, the last ants that return to the nest leave no trace at all
There are many experiments that can be done on these ant trails. If you remove part of this passage with a brush, for example, the ants search the place and become confused until they find the trace again, and if you put a piece of paper between the nest and the food source, the ants walk over it, putting a chemical trace on it
But for a short while, as if there is no food at the end of the trail, the ants leave this path, and start looking for food again
The intelligence of ants
rule mentally and intellectually and to confront dangers, through this story that happened with the Prophet of God Solomon, peace be upon him, and upon us. The Prophet is better than prayer and peace. This would not have been possible without the supernatural abilities of ants
Modern science has revealed some wonders about the behavior of intelligent ants and the evolution of their nervous system. When studied under a microscope, it seems to us that the ant brain consists of two main lobes similar to the human brain, and of developed nerve centers and sensitive cells
Valley of the Ants
The Qur’an made it clear that ants are social beings that live in colonies, and they are a cooperative and united creature, each of them feels the feelings of others, and this appears in the behavior of the ants and in the warning of their people, and we will do that. It will be exposed in the next lines
ant community
The ant community consists of the queen, which produces eggs that swell and grow up to 9 cm in length in some species such as termites. It becomes very difficult to move them, and since they have no business other than laying eggs, there is a special group of ants to nurture, feed and clean, sterile females who do all the work of the hive from defending against dangers. It can threaten the hive by collecting food to clean the hive, take care of the queen mother, young larvae etc
Male ants have one mission in their life, which is to pollinate the queens, and they do not appear on the surface of the earth except during the breeding season, and after they have fulfilled their mission, they feed them and the workers kill them, because In the ant complex, there is no place but the productive workers
ants valley
Ants live inside the colonies that they build, and a large number of colonies may be adjacent to a large number of colonies to form a city or a valley for ants, as the Holy Qur’an called it. A scientist has discovered in the mountains of Pennsylvania, one of the US states, one of the largest ant cities in the world. It is peppered with streets, crossings, and roads, and each ant finds its way home with a strange feeling
Each ant colony includes the following classes*
Ventilation door*
The guard's place to prevent the entry of strangers*
The first layer of comfort for female workers in the summer*
Food thrift store*
Where do you eat*
Military barracks*
The royal chambers where the queen ant lays her eggs*
A stable for ant cows and their fodder*
Another stable for milking cows*
The location of the eggs hatching*
A place for ant breeding*
Ants Square and to the right of it a cemetery to bury those who die*
Mashta the Queen*
The depths of the ant kingdom in some species that live in the Amazon rainforest can reach (5 meters) and 7 meters wide. Ants create hundreds of rooms and tunnels
About (forty tons) of soil is excavated and transported abroad, and the kingdom's architecture alone is one of the miracles of creation
food gathering
Members of the ant community have unique ways of collecting, storing, and preserving food. If the ant cannot carry what it has collected in its mouth as usual due to its large size, it moves it with its hind legs and lifts it with its arms, and it is a habit of nibbling seeds before storing them until it does so. They do not germinate again, and to facilitate bringing them to their warehouses, there are some seeds which if broken into two cotyledons, each plant can germinate again like coriander seeds. So the ants cut the coriander seeds into four pieces so that they do not germinate, and if the seeds are wet with rain, they take them out to the air and the sun to dry, not in front of this clever behavior. The ants have nothing but prostration to God, the Creator, the All-Knowing, who made the ants realize that breaking the seed’s embryo and isolating the seed from water and moisture makes it not germinate
ant cows
Modern science adds new facts about ant cows and their cultivation. These cows are nothing but small beetles that ants kept in the ground for so long that they lost their sight in the dark
And if man has subordinated a limited number of animals to his benefits, then ants have subordinated hundreds of species to animals of a lesser kind
We mention, for example, the "plant bug", that small insect that lives on plants and is difficult to eradicate because there are many types of ants that take care of them. Ants send messengers to collect the eggs of these insects for them, where they look after them and take care of them until they hatch and bring out their young. Of the sugary substances that we can call (ant’s honey), and a group of ants milk a group of ants that do nothing but milk these insects by touching them with their horns, and this insect produces 48 points of ants. Honey every day and this is a hundred times more than what a cow produces if we compare the size of the insect to the size of the insect cow.
the growth
Most of the ants are from the class of ant workers, which is the most widespread in the world, and the workers are all female, and they live in so-called colonies, and each colony has one queen whose job it is to lay eggs
The number of eggs laid by the queen varies depending on the type of ant, and may range from a few hundred to several million. The African type of ant, its queen, lays approximately 3 to 4 million eggs per month
Ants are considered one of the longest-lived insects on earth. They live from a few months to several years, and the queen may be up to 20 years old
As for male ants, their work is limited to mating only in pollinating the queen. When the queen decides to mate, her duty comes, and then the males die instantly. During the mating process, the queen sheds her wings and excretes a scent that is characteristic of the colony's scent
This insect is very social and cannot live alone, living in groups, nests or colonies
Ant nests are not the same for all types of ants, for example, the crop ants Hanester Ants build connecting chambers underground, while the Tailor Ants leave and make a green cylindrical nest. Ants, and ant nests underground can reach a depth of 40 feet underground, a team of European scientists has managed to discover a huge colony of ants stretching for thousands of miles from Italy to northwest Spain
The number of ants in a nest or colony may reach tens of millions. The ant house is divided, and it has rooms for the little ones, and there is a special room for the queen, and rooms that are used as food stores. The ants are divided into groups, and each of them has its own specific rooms. a task. And it should not be surprising if we say that the ant community has in some way or another bypassed human society
Ants are found on all continents except Antarctica and only a few large islands such as Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands lack native ant species. Ants occupy a wide range of ecological domains, and are able to exploit a wide range of food resources, either directly or indirectly as herbivores, predators and sweepers. Most species are omnivorous generalists but a few are specialized feeders. Their ecological dominance over biomass can be measured, and it is estimated in various environments that they contribute 15-20% (on average, and about 25% in the tropics) to the total biomass of terrestrial animals, exceeding that of vertebrates
Ants range in size from 0.75 to 52 mm and vary in color. Most are red or black, green is less common, and some tropical species have a metallic luster. More than 12,000 species are currently known (with top estimates of around 14,000), with greater diversity in the tropics. Taxonomic studies continue to solve the classification and system of ants. Online databases of ant species, including AntBase and Hymenoptera Name Server, help keep track of known and newly described species
The relative ease with which ants can be sampled and studied in ecosystems has made them useful as species considered indicators in biodiversity studies
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Ants build cities, build roads, dig tunnels, store food in stores and warehouses, and some types of ants create gardens and grow plants to feed on. And some types of ants raise their livestock, so they milk nectar in their stomachs. Ants wage wars against other ant tribes, take captives of defeated ants and harness them to serve them, and some types of ants domesticate other insects in their nests to benefit from them. And God spoke the truth when he said in his dear boo
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