Cleopatra had a special lipstick made for her, consisting of a crushed mixture of ants and deep red carmine beetles.
Army ants that misinterpret the scent trails left by other ants will sometimes break from the crowd and march in circles. If enough ants join, they can form massive “death spirals.”
The total weight of all the ants on Earth is greater than the total weight of all the humans on the planet.
Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth except for Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands.
Male ants do not have fathers because unfertilized eggs become males while fertilized eggs become females.
Ants cannot be seriously injured from impact with the ground after being dropped from any height because they don’t have enough mass.
Army ants build living bridges by linking their bodies to span gaps and create shortcuts across rainforests.
A study showed that only 2.6% of Ants in a colony are always active. Over 25% are observed to never be working, and 71.9% are inactive half of the time.
Ants can accidentally misinterpret the chemical trails left by other ants and start walking in circles. If too many members of the colony join in, it can kill the whole colony in what is sometimes known as the ‘Death Spiral.’