FAQ: Common Misconceptions About Ants
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If you have a question that is not answered in this FAQ, feel free to get in touch with Empire of Ants!
1. Ants like anything sweet
A: Not entirely. The reason ants like sweet things is that sugars are an essential fuel for their bodies, so anything sweet will attract them. But artificial sweeteners or overly processed sugars will not attract them at all! Also, carnivorous ants feed on insects and have a higher demand for protein, so some predatory ants are not drawn to sweets whatsoever!
2. Real honey does not attract ants
A: This is actually because pure honey has too low a water content, so ants either do not recognise it or do not like it. Honey with a higher water content or a higher sugar content will attract ants more! And no matter what kind of honey it is, once you add water and stir so the sugars dissolve out, ants will love it!
3. Ants are bad insects
A: Ants are among the most important insects in the world. They balance the populations of species in the environment they live in, including ants themselves, and they also play the role of decomposers, helping to break down dead insects. If humans vanished from the Earth, nature would be better off; but if ants vanished, every food chain would be reshuffled and undergo drastic change. Humans tend to focus only on the superficial harm to their own interests and fail to see the positive results ants bring.
4. Ants are afraid of rubber bands and lemons
A: It is really just that the smell is too strong and interferes with their sense of scent. So it is not that they are afraid; rather, the smell masks the trail scent they leave as they move, so for a short while they cannot find their way.
5. The queen is a monarch who issues commands and controls the colony
A: This is actually wrong. After her nuptial flight, the queen stays inside the nest and will only leave again if the colony is forced to relocate; otherwise she hides in the safest, darkest depths. So of course the queen has no idea what is happening outside; her only job is to lay eggs. Then who controls the colony’s operations? No single individual does. The workers allocate tasks among themselves, and decisions are made collectively rather than by any one individual. It is truly remarkable!
6. Ants bite people
A: Ants will not attack people for no reason; they only fight back when they are threatened. The point at which each species fights back varies with its temperament and diet. More aggressive ants will swarm and attack the moment they are disturbed, while timid ants will prioritise fleeing, and only when their own safety or the nest is in danger will some of them mount a defence.
7. Ants crawling around everywhere are dirty
A: Like bees, ants are social insects. Bees live in hives they build themselves and secrete propolis to kill germs, so that returning foragers can be disinfected. Ants live in far harsher environments than bees, directly exposed to enormous quantities of bacteria, viruses and mould, so they too have natural antibiotics to kill bacteria, viruses and mould and prevent harm to their eggs, larvae and cocoons, the nutrient-rich individuals that have no exoskeleton to protect them. So ants are actually very clean!
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