Division of Labor
Ant colonies are grossly divided into queens, males, and workers. The job of the queen is to lay eggs. The males generally do nothing for the colony. They wander around accepting food from the workers until the time comes for mating. They die almost immediately after mating. Workers are generally sterile females. They have a variety of tasks to perform for the colony ranging from foragers, defenders, brood feeders, food preparers, caretakers of the queen and nest construction, among other things. The size of the ant in the colony is often different according to the task the ant needs to perform. The queen is often the largest; brood keepers are the smallest. Soldiers are large, and foragers are smaller.When ants specialize, they help the colony survive in a number of ways. For example, foragers are constantly exposed to danger while out on the hunt. A small percentage of the colony acts as foragers though, so the majority of the colony is safely tucked away in the nest. The foragers are sacrificing for the majority of the colony, which means that the colony will probably survive longer. If every ant in the colony had to forage, then every individual would be exposed to great dangers. Interestingly, duties are often assigned according to the age of the ant. The younger ants are closer to the queen, taking care of her and the brood, while the older ants are usually delegated the more dangerous tasks of foraging and defense.
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Science Education Connection Department of Biochemistry The University of Arizona Tuesday, April 29, 1997 warder@u.arizona.edu
http://biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/lessons/shindelman/ |