When thinking about the animals that rule the forest, we often think about large mammals such as the bear and the moose. In truth, however, forest ecosystems are ruled by smaller animals.

Ants are the most important group of insects in terms of forest ecosystems. Their success is based on their mass power, or their ability to form and maintain large communities. In addition, ants have strong jaws and quick feet, which make them very well adapted to life in the forest.

The anthills found in the forest are not built by individual wood ants. Instead, they are the result of the concentrated efforts of thousands of ants living in the same ant colony.


Anthills are colonies.

Ant colonies have strict hierarchies. They depend on and are ruled by a female queen. In many cases, one nest can contain multiple queens, and one colony can contain multiple nests. 

The majority of the ants in a colony are workers. They are female ants. Usually, all the workers of an ant colony are the offspring of one or two queens. They do not reproduce themselves at all. 

The genes of the worker ants are transmitted to the next generation via the queen, as the workers feed and take care of the queen and the offspring it produces. Male ants spend most of their time inside the nest, waiting for their courtship flight. An anthill contains a large amount of eggs and larvae, which are fed by the workers.

Ants are predators. They prey on other insects, spiders, and even animals much larger than them. 

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However, ants do not prey on all insects. Interestingly, they have developed a mutualistic relationship with greenflies. Greenflies emit a sweet, sugary substance called honeydew, which ants use as their food source, "milking" and herding the greenflies. In return, the ants protect the greenflies from predators such as ladybugs. Therefore, both the greenflies and the ants benefit from this relationship.

Ants taking care of their larvae and eggs.