Ant
Ants are social insects that live in highly organized colonies that include workers, drones, and queens. Considered a highly successful insect, ants have colonized all parts of the world except for Greenland, Antarctica and Iceland. Ants form part of the Hymenoptera family of species with bees and wasps and this close relation can be observed in their similar social structure. There are over 12,000 known species of ants in the world [1].
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Colony Organization
Highly organized, ant colonies are coordinated by the release of pheromones - chemical signals passed between individuals that allow information to be passed around the colony. Pheremones can be used for such diverse purposes as: marking trails, identifying which task group an ant belongs to, triggering alarms, and even spreading confusion among invading colonies.
Relationship with People
While commonly seen as pests, ants actually have many benefits for human agriculture including pest control, and aerating soil, and even collecting seeds for farmers. They also regarded as food by many cultures - ant larvae known as escamoles in parts of Mexico are regarded as a kind of caviar, and can sell for as much as $80 per kilo [2]. Remarkably, in some parts of the world Army Ants are even used as rudimentary sutures, their powerful jaws clamping wounds together to assist healing [3].
Intelligent Design
Creation scientists see the complex social behavior of ants to be evidence for an intelligent designer. [1]
