How the Ants Winters
How the Ants Winters
In the summer, the forest is full of ants scurrying back and forth. They make reserves to successfully winter and survive until spring. Few people saw what was happening inside the anthill among the winter. Its inhabitants fall into a state of suspended animation, turning part of their body into glycerin.
Instructions
1
People who breed ants at home inspecial glass devices, noticed that regardless of the surrounding temperature in the fall at the same time, the life of ants changes. The same happens in nature. Insects are gradually preparing for winter. The uterus stops laying eggs, and worker ants are particularly active in absorbing aphid discharge. They contain sugar, which inside the ant body turns into glycerin. His share in the total weight can reach 30%. So insects themselves can preserve, because fatty glycerin does not allow their bodies to turn into ice.
2
The ants then cover the main outlets from thean anthill, leaving only ventilation holes, and descend into the deepest rooms of their home. The courses and caves in the anthill can go deeper by 3-4 meters. The more severe winter is expected, the farther ants hide from the surface. If the thermometers are installed in the anthill in the autumn, they will show that in some chambers the temperature drops to -30, while in others it remains at -1.5 to -2 degrees.
3
Depending on the species with the working ants andat times the larvae and winged individuals hatch in the womb. So insects guarantee a continuation of the genus. Winged ants will have time to leave the anthill and establish a new one immediately with the onset of heat, and the larvae will quickly give new generations of working ants and males.
4
If you unearth an anthill in winter, you can see,that insects do not just sleep, but stay in a slowed state. They are not able to attack the violator of borders, but instinctively secrete acid and waved their mandibles.
