Many Facts About the Life of Flying Ants

1. Flying ants or ants that have wings are part of a species of ants that can fly rather than a separate species in their own right.

2. There are only particular ants that will have wings, and this will only be for departing a colony and starting a new one elsewhere.

3. They are often thought to be termites, but there are distinct differences between the two species.

4. Their colonies are established by queen ants who have got together and mated to reproduce.

5. After they have mated, they will lose their wings as they no longer have use for them and be totally grounded

6. When a queen lays its eggs, the ants that will emerge will become worker ants and will create a colony.

7. There will also be ants that will be born that will have other use but to mate and lay eggs.

8. These kinds of ants will develop wings which will be put to use in order to depart the colony and find mates.

9. After they have mated, the male ants will die quite quickly but females will last and become queen ants and will start the process over again.

10. When they leave their nests, ants with wings will gather with others and create a swarm congregating with other colonies of ants.

11. When they take off to swarm they will depart one after the other in an orderly fashion

12. When they swarm, it is so timed that the colonies will congregate and flying ants will find others to successfully mate with.

13. They will look to establish places to reproduce, often on high places in a behavior called hill-topping.

14. Some ants will have colonies in places such as under woodpiles, in dead trees or indeed in the ground where they will go unseen so as to not attract attention from deadly predators who will look to prey on them.

15. This swarm of flying ant will tend to attract many predators that will be after a good meal such as birds and dragon flies.

16. Depending on the size of the swarm, the activity of flying ants comes in bursts once it begins and can last a few hours or a few days.

17. The swarms of flying ants can vary from hundreds to as many as thousands, depending on how many colonies join to create the swarm of flying ants