Why do some ants fly and others do not?

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Have you ever learned about how ants live in colonies where they all have different, special jobs? It’s true! In every ant colony, certain ants are in charge of collecting food, others are in charge of building or protecting the nest, and so on. So what is the special job of winged ants??

Not all ants have wings, but usually the ones who do are the males. These male ants have wings because their job is usually to fly away and start a new colony in another place! (They’re sometimes known as swarmers.)

Occasionally female ants will have wings too, but usually the only females with wings are the Queen ants! The Queen’s special job is to reproduce, but you rarely see Queen ants with wings because they lose their wings before they lay eggs. 

Because of the way they divide up all of their work, ants – flying or not – are almost always working hard and busy as can be!

Working Hard!

Have you ever learned about any other creatures that divide up their work in special ways like ants? One good example is bees!

Why do you think this lifestyle is helpful to these creatures? Can you think of some benefits and some disadvantages? What do you think it would be like to live in a group where everyone was assigned to do one special task all the time?