Ant Colony

An ant colony is an underground lair where ants live, eat, and tend the eggs produced by the Queen ant. Colonies consist of a series of underground chambers, connected to each other and the surface of the earth by small tunnels. There are rooms for nurseries & food storage etc. . The colony is built and maintained by legions of worker ants, who carry tiny bits of dirt in their mandibles and deposit them near the exit of the colony, forming an ant-hill. Food carried in by workers is retrieved from the surrounding environment and can be traced from colony to colony by the use of isotopes.

Ant colonies are eusocial, and are very much like those found in other social Hymenoptera, though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through convergent evolution. Eggs are laid by one or sometimes more queens. Queens are different in structure; they are the largest ants of the colony as a consequence of their egg-laying. Most of the eggs that are laid by the queens grow up to become wingless, sterile females called "workers". Periodically, swarms of new winged queens and males (the alates) are produced in most species, which leave to mate. The males die shortly thereafter, while the surviving queens either found new colonies or occasionally return to their old one. The surviving queens can live up to around 21 years. People raise ant colonies in captivity for research and as a hobby. An "ant terrarium" used for this purpose is called a formicarium. They are often made thin enough that one can see the entire colony inside their nest. These are also called ant farms.