Home for the ants is just a small place to begin with, a little nest to call their own. It may be a mere burrow in the ground or under some rocks. Certain ants form mounds or anthills, by piling earth and twigs around and over their nests. Inside there are corridors linking a number of chambers. Other ants dig perhaps some sixteen feet (five meters) into the earth, and their underground maze of rooms and passageways may become quite extensive. Some nests cover a whole acre (.4 hectare)!
Carpenter ants set up housekeeping in wood. While they do not consume the wood, they do chew out spaces in it. This is not so bad if their home happens to be an old log in the forest. But it is another matter, indeed, if "home" turns out to be the beams of your house. Why, buildings may collapse because carpenter ants establish living quarters in their timbers!
Some ants weave leaves together to make the outer walls of their homes. In doing this, they use the silky material given off by developing ants, or larvae. While some adult ants hold the leaves in place, others move the larva back and forth, sewing together the edges. Still other ants make "carton," using wood particles, and possibly some sand, all cemented together with their saliva. But the insects called army ants are not housing engineers. They merely cluster around the mother ant and her young ones, perhaps hanging from a log with their legs hooked together to form a temporary shelter.
Carpenter ants set up housekeeping in wood. While they do not consume the wood, they do chew out spaces in it. This is not so bad if their home happens to be an old log in the forest. But it is another matter, indeed, if "home" turns out to be the beams of your house. Why, buildings may collapse because carpenter ants establish living quarters in their timbers!
Some ants weave leaves together to make the outer walls of their homes. In doing this, they use the silky material given off by developing ants, or larvae. While some adult ants hold the leaves in place, others move the larva back and forth, sewing together the edges. Still other ants make "carton," using wood particles, and possibly some sand, all cemented together with their saliva. But the insects called army ants are not housing engineers. They merely cluster around the mother ant and her young ones, perhaps hanging from a log with their legs hooked together to form a temporary shelter.
