Ingredients

Whether they’re marching one by one or two by two, ants can invade kitchens and other parts of your home in seconds. Despite their small size and stature, ants are very smart, capable of dividing and conquering to secure sweets and other left-out foods. There are more than 10,000 known species of ants – but for now, we’re going to focus on basic ant facts to give you an edge over these pesky pests. Welcome to Ant 101.

Ant Facts

Ants Have Super Strength:

An average ant can lift more than 20 times its body weight. While ants don’t weigh all that much to begin with, this strength helps them to lift things like potato chips and other tasty treats.

Ants Are Employed:

Every ant in a colony has a job. Some are workers that build the colony, others hunt for food, and some even help with waste disposal. There’s never a dull moment in the life of an ant!

Ants Are Intelligent:

When divided, an individual ant has only around 235,000-250,000 brain cells. With enough ants, a colony could have the same amount of brain cells as an average human!

Strength in Numbers:

If you added up the mass of every person in the world and every ant in the world, the masses would be equal. That’s a lot of ants!

Common Ant Varieties in the United States

Ant Patterns:

You’re most likely to encounter ants during the spring and summer months. However, as weather cools down during the fall, you may experience an uptick in ants. This is due to the “fall crawl” – a phenomenon that occurs when insects seek shelter from cooler weather.

Ants are most common during twilight hours. They typically set out to find food a little bit after dinnertime, but quite a few species are known to work in the mornings, as well. If you see an ant in your home, there’s a very strong chance you’ll see more.