21 Creepy Facts about Ants That Are as Freaky as They Are Tiny

Carly Tennes Published 07/09/2024 in creepy

Beyond serving as a homeowner's nuisance and famously ruining picnics, ants are a lot creepier than meets the eye ... or magnifying glass. Behind those tiny bodies is a whole lot of deviousness, evils so extreme — slavery, murder, the pain of consciousness — that they were once erroneously thought to be reserved for us humans.

From their decision to refuse medical care to the horrifying way fire ants work together to kill large mammals, here are 21 creepy facts about ants that are as freaky as they are tiny.

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1.
“TIL of Slaver ants - an entire category of ants who never work, and instead capture and enslave other ants as workers.”
2.
“Ants are self aware. In an experiment researchers painted blue dots onto ants bodies, and presented them with a mirror. 23 out of 24 tried scratching the dot, indicating that the ants could see the dots on themselves.”
3.
“Ants will refuse ‘medical’ help from their colony if they know they are mortally wounded. Rather than waste the colony’s resources and energy on futile rehabilitation, the wounded ant flails its legs forcing help to abandon them.”
4.
“When Justin Schmidt invented the Schmidt Insect Sting Pain index in 1983, the insect with the worst pain was the bullet ant, at the highest rating of 4.”
5.
“There are at least 20 quadrillion ants on earth - roughly 2.5 million per person.”
6.
“Ants can combine multiple colonies into ‘Supercolonies’ which contain multiple queens. One of the largest on record included an estimated 306 million worker ants and one million queen ants living in 45,000 interconnected nests.”
7.
“Fire Ants swarm your leg, then one signals the others to bite at the same time - which allows them to swarm much higher before they are noticed. They can kill colts and calves this way.”
8.
Between their impact on crops and medical/vet bills stemming from their bites, fire ants cause $4 billion in damage every year, per National Geographic.
9.
“Ants can get high on LSD. Doses of 20ng will make an ant trip for up to 48 hrs, impairing locomotion, group formation, foraging skills, and social activity.”
10.
“If you kill an ant that’s infesting your home, they will release pheromones and act as a calling card for more ants to come into your home to recover their bodies and investigate the danger.”
11.
"Between 63rd and 76th streets in New York City, scientists discovered an ant species found nowhere else on earth. It has been nicknamed the 'ManhattAnt.'”
12.
"TIL about 'crazy ants' that often form colonies within electrical equipment and can cause problems in all kinds of electrical systems similar to termites in wood."
13.
"Army ants can accidentally misinterpret the chemical trails left by other ants and start walking in circles. If too many members of the colony join in, it can kill the whole colony in what is sometimes known as the 'Death Spiral.' or 'Ant Milling.'"
14.
“After an ant colony is well established and has enough resources to spare, winged ants start to emerge.”
15.
“A cluster of ants ‘flows’ like a liquid”
16.
“In South America and Africa, army ants are used as surgical sutures. The wound is pressed together and ants are applied, where they seize the edges of the skin with their mandibles. The body is then cut off while the ant's head remains, attached, to close the wound.”
17.
“Ants make up 15% of all terrestrial animal biomass, and there are 10 thousand trillion ants on the planet.”
18.
"here is a species of mushroom that infects and zombifies carpenter ants. The mushroom slowly takes control of the ant’s motor functions and leads them away from the colony to die in a place ideal for growing. Then the mushroom grows out of the ant’s head."
19.
“A colony of ants with no queen, no males and no offspring, comprised entirely of non-reproductive females, that live in a disused nuclear bunker in Poland. The colony is supplemented by ants falling through hole in the ventilation which cannot escape.”
20.
“Four times as many people are killed by ants every year than are killed by sharks.”
21.
“Once a year in parts of England flying ants migrate. Seagulls catch and eat them and then become drunk off the ants' formic acid, causing them to crash into buildings and moving cars.”
22.

1.
“TIL of Slaver ants - an entire category of ants who never work, and instead capture and enslave other ants as workers.”
2.
“Ants are self aware. In an experiment researchers painted blue dots onto ants bodies, and presented them with a mirror. 23 out of 24 tried scratching the dot, indicating that the ants could see the dots on themselves.”
3.
“Ants will refuse ‘medical’ help from their colony if they know they are mortally wounded. Rather than waste the colony’s resources and energy on futile rehabilitation, the wounded ant flails its legs forcing help to abandon them.”
4.
“When Justin Schmidt invented the Schmidt Insect Sting Pain index in 1983, the insect with the worst pain was the bullet ant, at the highest rating of 4.”
5.
“There are at least 20 quadrillion ants on earth - roughly 2.5 million per person.”
6.
“Ants can combine multiple colonies into ‘Supercolonies’ which contain multiple queens. One of the largest on record included an estimated 306 million worker ants and one million queen ants living in 45,000 interconnected nests.”
7.
“Fire Ants swarm your leg, then one signals the others to bite at the same time - which allows them to swarm much higher before they are noticed. They can kill colts and calves this way.”
8.
Between their impact on crops and medical/vet bills stemming from their bites, fire ants cause $4 billion in damage every year, per National Geographic.
9.
“Ants can get high on LSD. Doses of 20ng will make an ant trip for up to 48 hrs, impairing locomotion, group formation, foraging skills, and social activity.”
10.
“If you kill an ant that’s infesting your home, they will release pheromones and act as a calling card for more ants to come into your home to recover their bodies and investigate the danger.”
11.
"Between 63rd and 76th streets in New York City, scientists discovered an ant species found nowhere else on earth. It has been nicknamed the 'ManhattAnt.'”
12.
"TIL about 'crazy ants' that often form colonies within electrical equipment and can cause problems in all kinds of electrical systems similar to termites in wood."
13.
"Army ants can accidentally misinterpret the chemical trails left by other ants and start walking in circles. If too many members of the colony join in, it can kill the whole colony in what is sometimes known as the 'Death Spiral.' or 'Ant Milling.'"
14.
“After an ant colony is well established and has enough resources to spare, winged ants start to emerge.”
15.
“A cluster of ants ‘flows’ like a liquid”
16.
“In South America and Africa, army ants are used as surgical sutures. The wound is pressed together and ants are applied, where they seize the edges of the skin with their mandibles. The body is then cut off while the ant's head remains, attached, to close the wound.”
17.
“Ants make up 15% of all terrestrial animal biomass, and there are 10 thousand trillion ants on the planet.”
18.
"here is a species of mushroom that infects and zombifies carpenter ants. The mushroom slowly takes control of the ant’s motor functions and leads them away from the colony to die in a place ideal for growing. Then the mushroom grows out of the ant’s head."
19.
“A colony of ants with no queen, no males and no offspring, comprised entirely of non-reproductive females, that live in a disused nuclear bunker in Poland. The colony is supplemented by ants falling through hole in the ventilation which cannot escape.”
20.
“Four times as many people are killed by ants every year than are killed by sharks.”
21.
“Once a year in parts of England flying ants migrate. Seagulls catch and eat them and then become drunk off the ants' formic acid, causing them to crash into buildings and moving cars.”
22.

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1. “TIL of Slaver ants - an entire category of ants who never work, and instead capture and enslave other ants as workers.”

2. “Ants are self aware. In an experiment researchers painted blue dots onto ants bodies, and presented them with a mirror. 23 out of 24 tried scratching the dot, indicating that the ants could see the dots on themselves.”

3. “Ants will refuse ‘medical’ help from their colony if they know they are mortally wounded. Rather than waste the colony’s resources and energy on futile rehabilitation, the wounded ant flails its legs forcing help to abandon them.”

4. “When Justin Schmidt invented the Schmidt Insect Sting Pain index in 1983, the insect with the worst pain was the bullet ant, at the highest rating of 4.”

5. “There are at least 20 quadrillion ants on earth - roughly 2.5 million per person.”

6. “Ants can combine multiple colonies into ‘Supercolonies’ which contain multiple queens. One of the largest on record included an estimated 306 million worker ants and one million queen ants living in 45,000 interconnected nests.”

7. “Fire Ants swarm your leg, then one signals the others to bite at the same time - which allows them to swarm much higher before they are noticed. They can kill colts and calves this way.”

8. Between their impact on crops and medical/vet bills stemming from their bites, fire ants cause $4 billion in damage every year, per National Geographic.

9. “Ants can get high on LSD. Doses of 20ng will make an ant trip for up to 48 hrs, impairing locomotion, group formation, foraging skills, and social activity.”

10. “If you kill an ant that’s infesting your home, they will release pheromones and act as a calling card for more ants to come into your home to recover their bodies and investigate the danger.”

11. "Between 63rd and 76th streets in New York City, scientists discovered an ant species found nowhere else on earth. It has been nicknamed the 'ManhattAnt.'”

12. "TIL about 'crazy ants' that often form colonies within electrical equipment and can cause problems in all kinds of electrical systems similar to termites in wood."

13. "Army ants can accidentally misinterpret the chemical trails left by other ants and start walking in circles. If too many members of the colony join in, it can kill the whole colony in what is sometimes known as the 'Death Spiral.' or 'Ant Milling.'"

14. “After an ant colony is well established and has enough resources to spare, winged ants start to emerge.”

15. “A cluster of ants ‘flows’ like a liquid”

16. “In South America and Africa, army ants are used as surgical sutures. The wound is pressed together and ants are applied, where they seize the edges of the skin with their mandibles. The body is then cut off while the ant's head remains, attached, to close the wound.”

17. “Ants make up 15% of all terrestrial animal biomass, and there are 10 thousand trillion ants on the planet.”

18. "here is a species of mushroom that infects and zombifies carpenter ants. The mushroom slowly takes control of the ant’s motor functions and leads them away from the colony to die in a place ideal for growing. Then the mushroom grows out of the ant’s head."

19. “A colony of ants with no queen, no males and no offspring, comprised entirely of non-reproductive females, that live in a disused nuclear bunker in Poland. The colony is supplemented by ants falling through hole in the ventilation which cannot escape.”

20. “Four times as many people are killed by ants every year than are killed by sharks.”

21. “Once a year in parts of England flying ants migrate. Seagulls catch and eat them and then become drunk off the ants' formic acid, causing them to crash into buildings and moving cars.”

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eBaum's Picks

1.
“TIL of Slaver ants - an entire category of ants who never work, and instead capture and enslave other ants as workers.”

2.
“Ants are self aware. In an experiment researchers painted blue dots onto ants bodies, and presented them with a mirror. 23 out of 24 tried scratching the dot, indicating that the ants could see the dots on themselves.”

3.
“Ants will refuse ‘medical’ help from their colony if they know they are mortally wounded. Rather than waste the colony’s resources and energy on futile rehabilitation, the wounded ant flails its legs forcing help to abandon them.”

4.
“When Justin Schmidt invented the Schmidt Insect Sting Pain index in 1983, the insect with the worst pain was the bullet ant, at the highest rating of 4.”

5.
“There are at least 20 quadrillion ants on earth - roughly 2.5 million per person.”

6.
“Ants can combine multiple colonies into ‘Supercolonies’ which contain multiple queens. One of the largest on record included an estimated 306 million worker ants and one million queen ants living in 45,000 interconnected nests.”

7.
“Fire Ants swarm your leg, then one signals the others to bite at the same time - which allows them to swarm much higher before they are noticed. They can kill colts and calves this way.”

8.
Between their impact on crops and medical/vet bills stemming from their bites, fire ants cause $4 billion in damage every year, per National Geographic.

9.
“Ants can get high on LSD. Doses of 20ng will make an ant trip for up to 48 hrs, impairing locomotion, group formation, foraging skills, and social activity.”

10.
“If you kill an ant that’s infesting your home, they will release pheromones and act as a calling card for more ants to come into your home to recover their bodies and investigate the danger.”

11.
"Between 63rd and 76th streets in New York City, scientists discovered an ant species found nowhere else on earth. It has been nicknamed the 'ManhattAnt.'”

12.
"TIL about 'crazy ants' that often form colonies within electrical equipment and can cause problems in all kinds of electrical systems similar to termites in wood."

13.
"Army ants can accidentally misinterpret the chemical trails left by other ants and start walking in circles. If too many members of the colony join in, it can kill the whole colony in what is sometimes known as the 'Death Spiral.' or 'Ant Milling.'"

14.
“After an ant colony is well established and has enough resources to spare, winged ants start to emerge.”

15.
“A cluster of ants ‘flows’ like a liquid”

16.
“In South America and Africa, army ants are used as surgical sutures. The wound is pressed together and ants are applied, where they seize the edges of the skin with their mandibles. The body is then cut off while the ant's head remains, attached, to close the wound.”

17.
“Ants make up 15% of all terrestrial animal biomass, and there are 10 thousand trillion ants on the planet.”

18.
"here is a species of mushroom that infects and zombifies carpenter ants. The mushroom slowly takes control of the ant’s motor functions and leads them away from the colony to die in a place ideal for growing. Then the mushroom grows out of the ant’s head."

19.
“A colony of ants with no queen, no males and no offspring, comprised entirely of non-reproductive females, that live in a disused nuclear bunker in Poland. The colony is supplemented by ants falling through hole in the ventilation which cannot escape.”

20.
“Four times as many people are killed by ants every year than are killed by sharks.”

21.
“Once a year in parts of England flying ants migrate. Seagulls catch and eat them and then become drunk off the ants' formic acid, causing them to crash into buildings and moving cars.”