the.com/ant
a six-legged warlord that farms fungus, herds aphids, and lifts fifty times its weight
means a small social insect of the family Formicidae that lives in highly organized colonies, known for cooperative labor and remarkable strength relative to its size
from From Old English ǣmete, the same source that split into both 'ant' and 'emmet' (a dialect word for ant that lingered in Cornwall). The Old English form likely came from a Germanic compound meaning roughly 'the biter-off' or 'cutter' — fitting for a creature defined by its jaws. The 'ant' spelling won out as the middle of ǣmete wore away over centuries of speaking.
- combined weight
- all ants rival all humans in mass
- farmers first
- grew fungus crops 50 million years before us
- no lungs
- breathe through tiny body holes called spiracles
- immortal queens
- some live nearly 30 years
- slave raids
- certain species steal and enslave rival broods
leafcutter ant — atta cephalotes farms fungus in underground colonies of up to 5 million individuals in central and south america
bullet ant — paraponera clavata delivers the most painful insect sting on earth (4.0+ on schmidt scale) in rainforests of paraguay and brazil
saharan silver ant — cataglyphis bombycina sprints at 3.3 feet per second across the hottest desert on earth to avoid predators