Friday

Defense mechanisms

Ants have several predators, therefore, they have adapted several defense mechanisms and strategies to protect themselves against their enemies:


  • Ants are equipped with a nasty sting/bite that secretes formic acid, which is highly irritant. 

  • Some ants block the entrance to their nest with their head in a process called phragmosis. This prevents enemies form infiltrating the nest.

  • Ants use their powerful mandibles to throw small intruders out of the nest and these mandibles can also snap shut when they are in defense mode. 


The fishhook ant

The fishhook ant can use its sharp spikes on its back to penetrate their enemies. It can also use these hooks to interlock with other ants in the nest. This means that the ants will form a sort of lattice which will prevent the ant from being dragged away by a predator.

9 comments:

  1. This is some great facts for my big project for school so i hope i get a good grade

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Anonymous07:34

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous07:33

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Go for it Jaylin, the people knocking you are probably too lazy to do any work. It is easier to cut you down than take effort to help themselves be better people.

    ReplyDelete
  5. poooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do ants put off a smell when crushed as a defense mechanism to alert other ants to attack whomever it is that is killing the ants?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am using this for my science project, and I am in 6th grade! I'm quite nervous for this. It's a lot to work on, and the teacher is not very understanding. Thanks for the facts!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Insekten verursachen eine Reihe von Problemen in der Wohnung, und auch ein Kammerjäger könnte die Schädlinge leicht vom Grundstück entfernen, indem er verschiedene umweltfreundliche Gegenstände verwendet. Ein hochqualifizierter Kammerjäger beseitigt die Insekten sofort und liefert die besten Ergebnisse. Jeder kann auf der Website nach vollständigen Informationen über den Kammerjäger suchen .

    ReplyDelete