How long does an ant live?

Ants are distributed almost throughout the globe. They do not live only in its cold parts: Antarctica, Greenland, some islands of the Atlantic. How long an ant lives depends on which caste and species it belongs to. Some individuals live only a few days, and others 20 or more years.

general information

A female ant lays an egg, from which a pupa emerges, and then a larva. It is at this stage that the duration is laid ant life. The worker is programmed to exist from one to three years. A soldier can live up to five years. But in nature, the worker will lead a longer life, because he is less susceptible to attacks from birds and other insects.

Other representatives of the ant family also have a different term allocated to them by nature:

1. Uterus - long-lived colony. She is able to live two decades. Some species die with a decent age of 25-28 years.
2. The male lives for several days. His relatives kill him after he fulfills his goal - he will fertilize the female.

Interesting!

Insects can transmit information to each other. If the uterus dies, then each member of the colony will know about it in two to three minutes.

Ants live in nature not as long as those who live in human housing. This happens for several reasons:

1. Birds living in the forest and in the meadows, preying on ants.
2. At home, one air temperature is always maintained and food supplies do not run out.
3. Anthill less susceptible to destruction.

How many years ants live depends on the place where they decided to settle. Access to food and water is also important. Insects can live without food and moisture for no more than five days, after this period the colony dies out.

Lifespan of various species

Ants living in cold climates exhibit activity for a shorter period of time than their tropical counterparts. Therefore, we can conclude that the life of insects depends on the species and climate.

Redhead

It cleans the forest of harmful insects, but breeds aphidsto collect her sweet juice. On the day, "forest orderlies" collect several thousand pupae and pest eggs.

A representative of this species can live for 5 years. But almost no one lives up to this deadline. Red ants destroy forest birds and some small animals.

Pharaoh ant

Insects come from warm countries, therefore, in harsh climates, they live in an apartment. Their life expectancy is short:

• males - two months;
• manufacturers - 20 days;
• the female lives 8-9 months.

Pharaohs view constantly lives without anthill. In its nest there may be several queens that produce large offspring - 30 thousand insects per year.

Domestic ants are considered pests. It can be difficult to bring them out, because the nest can be far from human eyes. And the size is small - 3 mm. Nor can he boast of impressive weight.

Garden

Arthropods prefer to settle under stones or in a rotten stump. But they can choose a person’s house or apartment for life, the main thing is that the condition for life be suitable.

On a note!

For wintering they stockpile crumbs and food waste.

Life span garden ant - three years. But usually anthill renewal occurs within one year.

From how many ants are in the anthill, their life expectancy does not depend. This is affected only by weather conditions, appearance, caste membership, the presence of natural enemies nearby with an anthill.