Question: I've noticed that suddly all ants have turned up everywhere! Why are they so rampant in the summer?

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  1. Dear Sarahb; You are very observative! Observation and questioning are the two very basic steps into the science. And I am glad you are doing so.

    I found this from my nephew’s Science Album;- Ants become busy in the summer, specially in May and June. And they, the male ants numerous in number, come out of their holes, swarming and encircling around the queen ant. It is mating time for ants.

    At proper time, the queen ant jump(fly) up to sky and the male ants follow after the queen as high as 20 m above ground. When the mating is over, the male ants fall on the ground, dead, and the Queen starts new home.

    This is the time the worker ants become busier than ever before to build up a new kingdom with the Queen ant. There may be other reasons but this mating story certainly explains why the ants are so rampant in the summer.

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  2. Because ants hibernate through winter like bears! They stay in their nests, sleep a lot and preserve their energy. Then, as soon as the temperature goes up, their body temperatures go up and they feel more active. But you can imagine they would be starving after their winter snooze, so they’ll go out and try to find food!

    Then, in autumn, they make sure they eat a lot and get fat (although…..I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fat ant) so they’re ready to sleep through winter again.

    I’ve actually noticed something really weird at our hobby farm in the hunter valley in NSW (just 100 acres of bushland with a shack on it). We have these rather big ants that just stand in a certain place for hours chatting to eachother! I always presumed ants work all the time, but these ants just stand there and tap each others legs. It’s weird to see. If I could post photos here I would show you a photo I took of them tapping each other….

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