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Flying ants - fact file

Daily Mail   Last updated at 00:00am on 29.07.04

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  • Only winged ants, which are born during the summer months, are fertile and most ‘worker’ ants will never reproduce.

  • After hatching they wait underground until the weather is hot enough before taking to the skies to mate.

  • Males form large swarms and attract the females — known as queens — to fertilise in mid-air.

  • After the mating ritual is complete, the males die and queen ants shed their wings as they mate only once in their lives, despite living up to 22 years.

  • Legend says that when flying ants swarm, a thunderstorm is approaching.

  • Ants use smell to communicate — giving out a horrid stink as a warning sign if they are threatened. Predators include frogs and swallows.

  • They often nest under paving slabs and are responsible for small heaps of soil or dirt appearing between the cracks, which they have pushed up from underground.


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