Some legends say that ants are actually goblin spirits that live in the earth. This legend may have come about as a result of their interesting behaviors.

Ant communities are headed by queen ants whose job is to lay thousands of eggs. The smaller, wingless, ants, the ones that we normally see, are female worker ants who gather food, fight, and care for the very fragile young. The only role of the males in the ant societies is to mate with the queen or queens, then die shortly afterwards. Their purpose in life is to sacrifice their lives for the good of the colony, were the queen, on the other hand, may live for many generations more than the male ants.

Ants have a wonderful means of communication by which they use chemicals, pheromones, that can alert others to danger or lead them to a food source. Current studies suggest that some of these chemicals that they use to help them remember where they left their food might be able to be use to create medicine to treat Alzheimer’s (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1998/01/ant-chemical-may-help-alzheimers-patients). However, other instances have occurred where ants have been trapped in an ant death march after being confused by chemical trails. What fascinating creatures ants are!