Hi my lovely friends. Is another day on hive. My story begins. I was working on my farm few days ago, suddenly I was bitten by something. I thought it was a snake, loo and behold it was a SOLDIER ANT. It was painful. I mistakenly marched on them, hence the bite. Before I knew what was happening, I noticed that three or more of them have crawled into my body bitting me mercilessly.
As an agriculturist, I did some research on soldier 🐜 ants, it may surprise you to know that these ants have some benefits too. Sit tight and enjoy my findings.
What is the main role of soldier ants?
Soldier ants as the name suggests, guard the anthill and the queen ant. They protect the colony at the time of invasion or danger.
How do soldier ants protect the colony?
Some worker ants defend the colony by biting, stinging, or spraying acid at attackers and they are known as soldier ants. The only job of the winged male ants is to mate with the queen, they die soon after mating. The queen ant's life is spent laying millions of eggs.
Are they useful to humans?
Ants act as decomposers by feeding on organic waste, insects or other dead animals. They help keep the environment clean. Carpenter ants, which make their nests in dead or diseased wood, considerably accelerate the decomposition process of timber.
Are they poisonious?
United States army ants don't pose the same dangers to small animals and livestock as tropical varieties do. Since the pests mostly feed on other ants, the problems they cause have more to do with spreading bacteria and contaminating food. An army ant may also sting, resulting in an allergic reaction in some cases.
The soldiers of army ants are larger than the workers, and they have much larger mandibles than the worker class of ants, with older soldiers possessing larger heads and stronger mandibles than the younger ones. They protect the colony, and help carry the heaviest loads of prey to the colony bivouac.
Why are there soldier ants in my house?
Whenever there's a sudden ant infestation, the most likely cause of it is that there's food somewhere in your house for them. Most ants are opportunistic feeders; they'll eat just about anything. But they usually prefer sweets.
How to get rid of soldier ants
Vinegar is safe and can be used even around children unlike various harmful insecticides. All you need is put vinegar, water and a clean cloth and pour it on them. Sprinkle cornmeal in your doorways and around anthills. Army ants love cornmeal, yet they cannot digest it properly. They will eat it, swell up and die.
From experience, soldier ants are capable of killing hundreds of chicks overnight. Since these small organisms are a threat to your animals, they must be kept away from your farm and animals. Adhere to these tips below to keep soldier ants away from your poultry farms:
Farmers must remove everything that will attract these ants from poultry pens. These include dead birds, sweeteners, foods, feeds, etc. All dead birds or animals must be disposed of as soon as they are found. Additionally, feed and water remnants must not be disposed of or poured on the floors around pen. (I remember vividly years back when my co-tenant threw her soup away because soldier ants crawled into it)
Limit the quantity of feed and water that falls on litter and ensure that feeds are not kept in the pens. The feed must be kept in a store with screens to prevent ants, rodents and other pests from infiltrating.
All feed ingredients such as amino acids, GNC, SBM and PKC must not be stored or kept in the rearing pens. Ensure the height of the foundation of your pen is far above the ground level and concrete cement must be used for construction and flooring. Cracks on walls and floors must be sealed off. Ensure the height of the foundation of your pen is far above the ground level, and concrete cement must be used for construction and flooring. Cracks on walls and floors must be sealed off. If you discover areas or pens that are prone to infestation of soldier ants, ensure that you spray insecticides around the pens once in two weeks. Identify the colony of these ants and attack them right there using a very strong or powerful insecticide. Ensure your compound is neat, free from dirt.
The measures listed above are very effective in preventing or controlling soldier ants on your farm. So if you have the problems of soldier ants invading your farm, make use of the above tips to keep them away. If the infestation persists, professional consultation is required
What can we learn from these tiny creatures?
I find out that scienctist can learn so much from them. Without a
blueprint or a leader, thousands of insects moving specks of dirt create a complex, spongelike structure with parallel levels connected by a network of tunnels. Some ant species even build living structures out of their bodies: army ants and fire ants in Central and South America assemble themselves into bridges that smooth their path on foraging expeditions, and certain types of fire ants cluster into makeshift rafts to escape floods.
Scientists have been studying the social behavior of ants and other insects for decades, searching for chemical clues and other signals that the insects use to coordinate behavior. Much of this work has focused on understanding how ants decide where to forage or build their homes. But new research combining observations of ant behavior with modern imaging techniques and computational modeling is beginning to reveal the secrets of ant construction. It turns out that ants perform these complex tasks by obeying a few simple rules.
People are finally starting to crack the problem of producing these structures, which are either made out of soil or the ants themselves. The organization of insect societies is a marquee example of a complex decentralized system that arises from the interactions of many individuals
Cracking these problems could lead to improvements in swarm robotics, large numbers of simple robots working together, as well as self-healing materials and other systems capable of organizing and fixing themselves. More broadly, identifying the rules that ants obey could help scientists understand how biologically complex systems emerge — for example, how groups of cells give rise to organs. Self-organizing mechanisms are present everywhere in nature, from the development of an embryo to the organization of large animal populations.
Conclusion
I find out that soldier ants are not bad in totality. They have some useful purpose. Hope you enjoy this piece of information. If you do, please comment and vote for me. Love you all.
The pictures below shows soldier ants, including the one that I marched on unknowingly on my farm that give me the bitting of my life (lol).
