Wood-Ant City
An ant nest is like a little city where hundreds or even thousands of ants live together. Ants make their nests by digging tunnels and storerooms in the ground. Some also build mounds aboveground and cover them with twigs and pine needles.
The picture shows on wood-ant nest. If you look at it carefully, you can see that a lot is going on. Above the nest, a group of workers hunts for food. The ant with wings is a male. Male ants don’t do any work.
Inside the nest, in the top tunnel, two workers are bringing in part of a leaf. They will use it to repair the nest. Other workers are getting ready to carry cocoons to another room. Inside each cocoon is a baby ant. When the young ants grow up, they will break out of the cocoons.
In the lower tunnel is the queen ant. She is much bigger than the workers. She spends her whole life laying eggs. Ants work as if they were quite clever, but an ant does things because its body gets signals, such as smells. Different smells make ants do different things.