Ants!

Our first science unit on ants have been a success so far! And most of that is due to some very busy insects building away in our flower beds. A couple of days ago, Doodlebug picked up our bird feeder that had fallen off a tree into the flower bed, and we discovered that the ants had built their nest underneath it.

Our windblown bird feeder made a great home for ants!

 It turned out to be a living example of what we had read! Moving the bird feeder allowed us to see rooms and passages the ants had built. With their roof suddenly gone, the ants were in a panic, trying to carry all the eggs and larvae underground.

See that little white thing the ants are all over? That's the larva

We saw one worker ant struggle to carry a larva underground and another come to help it. 

We could also see the difference in size between the soldiers and the workers. Those large ants that you can see are the soldiers, and the little specks are the workers. I believe, but am not certain, that the winged ant in the middle left is a young queen. Probably not the nest queen, because we read that their wings fall off when they begin to lay eggs.

 

Some little girls enjoyed observing the ants in their natural environment. What we didn't realize when Doodlebug moved the bird feeder was that the ants were storing their eggs on the underside of it. When we returned the bird feeder to the ant nest, we discovered all their eggs had fallen off into a big pile. See the little white specks there?

The ants had already discovered their missing stash and were busy moving them all underground, where it was safer. We came back a little later and every single egg was gone. Ants are highly organized and efficient!

Here are the books we have read and enjoyed about ants to far:

Ant Cities

Are You and Ant?

Two Bad Ants

The Ant and the Grasshopper

I wonder what our unit on butterflies will have in store?