Queen Ant Digs
Life is Good • 14m
Having recently mated, a queen ant digs furiously underground to found a new colony. Only 2% of ant queens successfully found new colonies. The initial challenge is to select a suitable location for the new colony. Next, a newly-mated queen ant must dig down into the ground, where she will lay her first batch of eggs. Once underground, she may never see daylight again. The ant queen will devote the rest of her life to producing offspring and regulating aspects of the colony through selective reproduction. This program was made with the generous assistance of the University of California Los Angeles, Department of Entomology.
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Baby Ants
The first generation of ants raised by a new ant queen are called minims, and they are smaller than subsequent generations of ants. Right off the bat, the young female ants will tend the developing brood and venture above ground to find food to bring back to the queen and other colony members. Ov...
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Ant Eggs
The history of every ant colony traces back to the founding queen's first clutch of eggs. The queen patiently and attentively tends them while they develop into the subsequent immature life stages. The ant queen holds the eggs, stimulating them with touch. She must keep the eggs clean and safe fr...
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Ant Brood
Rare vantage of a new ant queen raising her first batch of brood through the immature life stages. Before it becomes an ant, an egg develops through three immature life stages. The 1st stage is egg, the 2nd is larvae, and the 3d is pupae. The queen constantly cleans her brood which protects them ...
