Student Research Pages - Ants, Animals and Us
Ants make favorite meals for many animals. In fact, without ants, many animals in our state would go hungry. Ants are a very important source of food for wildlife!
Ants play an important role in the food chain.
Here are some Texas animals that chow down on ants:
Antlions, also called “Doodlebugs,” get their names from the way they catch ants. (Make sure you check out the “Doodlebug” activity and video on the “Activities & Lesson Plans” page!)
Ants eat other ants! An ant’s worst enemy is another ant. They are
aggressive and attack other ant colonies. In most cases, ants from different colonies, even within the same species, treat each other as enemies.
The invasive fire ant is the most vicious! They raid other colonies all the time. This is part of why fire ants are such a big problem in Texas. They are making it difficult for some of our native ant species to survive in Texas.
How Ants Affect Us
For such tiny critters, ants have big effects on the world we live in. They play lots of important roles in Texas that make things better for us humans.
One of the most important things ants do is help make our dirt better. Plants need good dirt to grow healthy. When we have healthy plants that means we have good vegetables to eat.
In some places of the world, ants even do more for the soil than earthworms!
Ants – mostly invasive species – can do some bad stuff, too. Check out the chart below to learn about some of the good and bad ways ants affect the world in which we live:
Depending on the species, ants ...
Positive | Negative |
---|---|
Control other insect populations | Can kill crops |
Disperse seeds | Can damage wood structures |
Move soil around | Short out electrical equipment |
Pollinate plants | Hurt people allergic to their stings |