We all know of ants as incredibly hard-working and capable creatures. Human beings have a lot to learn from these tiny creatures that live in such organised manner and work so hard throughout their lives. They can lift objects several times heavier than their own body weight and work in a coordinated manner with incredible precision.

Here are some lesser known facts about Ants.

• Ants existed on earth right from the time that dinosaurs were to be found. This discovery was made by the scientists of Harvard and Florida State University after having conducted a massive genetic analysis in the year 2006. Findings revealed the origin of ants to be found in the mid Cretaceous period.

• Having existed during the Cretaceous period also suggests that ants are creatures that have survived the mass extinction period that led to the disappearance of dinosaurs and many other species of animals.

• Ant species can be found in every corner of the world with the exception of Antarctica, the Arctic and a few islands around these two poles.

• It is estimated that any given time on Earth, one can find more than 10,000,000,000,000,000 individual ants alive.

• The largest specimen of an Ant, fortunately a fossilised one was measured to be 2.4 inches long with a wingspan of 6 inches. Although most species of ants today are not that long, an African variety known as the Dorylus wilverthi is said to measure more than 2 inches in length.

• A quarter of the animal biomass produced every year in some regions can comprise of ant biomass alone.

• Studies reveal that ants practise slavery. They are known to steal eggs at larval stages from neighbouring ant colonies and are either eaten up or used for work. This slave making practise is termed as ‘˜Dulosis’.

• Ants have unique communication systems that make use of pheromones. These are chemical substances released that can help alert others in times of danger or lead the way to food.

• Similar to bees, ant communities are headed by Queen Ants whose only function in their entire lifetime is to lay thousands of eggs. The workers are the ones sent out to procure food, care for the offspring and carry out numerous other duties as a community.

• Male ants don’t serve much of a function in the Ant community other than mating the Queen ant after which they can be left to die.

• Ants can prey on animals several times larger than its own size including reptiles, birds and other smaller mammals.

• Soldier ants are known to plug the entrances to their colonies with their own heads thereby preventing invasion or access to their colonies.

• Fungus farming ants grow crops and began agricultural practices much before humans did. They raise their own crops and even use special horticultural techniques for enhanced crop yields.

The complex cooperative colonies that these ants build and live in; and considering the fact that they survived the mass extinction, makes us humans a little smaller. They offer immense scope for study and a lot of parallelisms can be drawn from these tiny creatures and be compared to human society.