Hobbies And Interests
Physical Characteristics
Red ants, like other members of its species, are extremely small: they range from 1/16 inch to 1/5 inch long. They are a reddish-brown color. They can lift objects up to five times their weight, making them one of the strongest animals on Earth, according to Fire Ant.net. Red ants have stingers that they use to inject their victims with a deadly poison, producing a burning sensation in humans. This is how they earned the alternate name of "fire ants."
Diet
Red ants are omnivores, meaning that they eat plant and animal material. There is very little that they won't eat: saplings, turtles and fruit are all vulnerable to red ants. These insects have two stomachs: one carries food to sustain them individually, and the other stomach carries food to be brought back and shared with the colony via regurgitation.
Communication
Red ants communicate with each other through different methods. They secrete pheromones, which are chemicals used to influence the behavior of their fellow ants and communicate messages, which may warn other ants about danger, lead them to food or merely greet them. They also use sound: if a red ant gets trapped underground, it will rub the area between its waist and abdomen, creating a sound of alarm that compels nearby ants to help. If a red ant is killed violently, its body emits a pheromone that sparks belligerent behavior in ants nearby and draws them to the scene of its death.
Colony
Red ants live in colonies, which are massive groups of ants numbering in the hundreds of thousands. A colony consists of one or several queens, males -- whose only purpose is to mate with the queens -- and sterile females, who do the rest of the work required to sustain the colony. Commonly known as workers or worker ants, they find supplies and food for the other ants, take care of the young and defend the colony against intruders. For shelter, they create mounds in the dirt that may be as tall as 18 inches.