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Army Ants

Army ants are carnivorous, nomadic, and aggressive and appear to be intelligent insects. They attack freely, eat without discrimination, migrate to locate food sources and maintain a complex social hierarchy.

Like other ant species, the bodies of army ants consist of a head, abdomen and thorax. The thoraxes of army ants are located between the head and abdomen and are connected to the head by joints known as nodes. Their abdomens are oval-shaped and the stomach, stinger and large intestine are located within it. The head of the army ant has eyes, mouth and antennae. Their mouths consist of two jaws, or mandibles, which resemble scissors. However, army ants are unable to eat solid items and ingest only liquids. In addition, because their eyes are not compound, army ants are blind; they use their antennae to smell and touch, as well as to communicate.

Colonies of army ants consist of a queen, the queen's brood of eggs, workers and soldiers. A single colony can contain between 1,000 and two million individual ants. Unlike other ant species, army ants are known to be nomadic, making temporary nests while traveling from one location to the next. Their nests are composed of the ants themselves: army ants form the walls of the nest by fastening their claws and mandibles to one another.

Workers are infertile females and are unable to establish their own colonies. Instead, they forage for food, bringing prey into their nests. Smaller army ant workers also tend to the queen's eggs, and soldier ants are responsible for the defense of the army ant nest. Queens can lay eggs each day, and can survive for several years. Worker ants can live up to one year.