Researchers explore what happens when ants can’t properly use smell to detect friend from foe.
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Articles on Ants
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Our lives are intertwined with animals, insects and birds – we should consider them more when we design our cities.
Tiny ants might seem like unlikely inspirations and sidekicks for a superhero, but real life ants have astonishing superpowers that make them formidable allies.
The ways eastern fence lizards have changed in response to red imported fire ants demonstrate how species can adapt to survive the presence of invasive predators.
New research shows rewilding with invertebrates – insects, worms, spiders and the like – can go a long way in bringing our degraded landscapes back to life.
Over hundreds of million years of evolution, ants have come up with some pretty smart solutions to problems of agriculture, navigation and architecture. People could learn a thing or two.
Invertebrates are “the little things that run the world”. So researchers decided to count all the ants on Earth, to help monitor how they’re coping with environmental challenges.
Ant feet are equipped with an array of tools – from retractable sticky pads to claws to special spines and hairs – enabling them to defy gravity and grip virtually any surface.
A new map of more than 14,000 ant species around the world will guide efforts for discovery and conservation.
Give ants a chance.
E.O. Wilson was one of the world’s leading experts on ants, but his other passion was convincing humans to see themselves as part of the natural world.
A clue is in insects’ hairy feet.
Many small animals make their teeth and claws from a smooth blend of proteins and heavy elements. These materials can form very sharp tools that make it possible to cut tough substances using tiny muscles.
Yellow crazy ants are one of the world’s worst invasive species. And it turns out they have unique systems of reproduction that make life in the queendom more complicated than we realised.
A type of structure called a ‘scaffold’ acts like a safety net for ants when they go foraging, preventing them from slipping on steep surfaces.
Animals that are traded as pets are more likely to be invasive species, including a relatively new pet: ants.
The spread of tawny crazy ants may be driven, in part, by their need for calcium. The calcium-rich limestone bedrock of the lower U.S. Midwest may provide ideal conditions for populations to explode.
For some sand-dwelling plants, stickiness is a defense tactic that keeps predators at bay.
Using distance to avoid getting sick has deep evolutionary roots for humans and many other species.
You’ve probably seen ants marching over your kitchen bench this summer. Should you get out the insecticide, or learn to live with them?
Top contributors
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Associate professor, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor, School of Mathematical Sciences, Monash University
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Research Fellow, School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor, James Cook University
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Associate Professor, Ecology, Northumbria University, Newcastle
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Principal lecturer, bioscience, Nottingham Trent University
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Postdoctoral Research Associate, Florida International University
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Lecturer, Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester
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PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester
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Research scientist, James Cook University
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Professor of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
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Director of Food Innovation, University of Adelaide
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Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, Monash University
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ARC Research Associate, University of Adelaide
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Lecturer in Zoology, University of Hull
