These tiny creatures can wipe out anything in their path. Army ants are HUNTERS and they roam around from place to place looking for food.

What they look like:

Army ants grow to be about 1 inch. They can be dark brown or black. They have very large and strong pincerlike jaws. The males have wings.

What they eat:

Anything they can subdue in their path. They eat other insect, snakes and small animals such as baby birds. The whole colony will overtake the smaller animal and eat it. The ants send out special scouts to look for food. When they find it the go and tell the others. They leave a special smell that the others can follow.

Where they live:

Army ants like warm tropical temperatures. They can be found in the lowland forests of South and Central American and the some of the southern points of North American. India and Malaysia has a similar species.

How they breed:

They lay eggs. They can lay up to 120,000 a one time. The LARVAL STAGE takes 23 – 33 days and the PUPATION STAGE 10-15 days.

Special Characteristics:

Army Ants live in huge colonies. There are worker ants (most of the ants are workers), soldiers and a queen. The ants travel in stages. When they are migrating they go on the march and stop to rest at night. One neat trick the ants do is to make a nest with their bodies so the queen and the babies can rest. When they are not marching they are in the STATIONARY phase. This is when they make a nest and the queen lays her eggs.

COOL FACTS

Activities

1. Add the Army Ant to your animal notebook. It will go under ARTHROPODS – INSECTS. You can make another divider if you like for the order HYMENOPTERA.

2. Get a blank copy of a world map. Mark where the army ants live.

3. Get an ant farm and watch how other ants live. The army ants feed and take care of their queen the same way.

4. Draw an ant and label the body parts. This chart will help you.

Fun worksheets: