Why do ants tend to congregate on sidewalks?
959409
There are 2 explanations:\n\n(1)  Because that's where people tend to drop food & crumbs, as they are walking along.\n\n(2)  They don't really congregate there, especially --they just seem to, because that's where you can see them.   They congregate in the grass, too, and maybe in other places --but they're not as easy to see there.
832639
Well, if you think in terms of physics, then no, it doesnt. Force of a fall (that which leads to pain) if a function of both mass and gravity. Gravity will act the same way on the ant as it would on a Volkswagon, however the ant weights significantly less, so the force at which it hits the ground is much less. As an added feature, due to air and wind resistance, the ants landing would be relatively comfortable. No is we attempted this in an air free chamber, the landing wouldn't be so soft!
931340
I saw on a National Geographic filler that ants don't sleep. \nAnts don't have large brains, they don't need them as they would be wasted.....brains are very expensive energetically to maintain so animals don't want more than is required. \nAnt colonies work on simple principles to maintain themselves. For example, when a forager ant comes across a prey item and goes back to the colony to recruit help the number of foragers is not determined by the colony but by the size of the prey item. \nWhen the prey starts to be moved by the ants it is a signal that no more recruits are required. This shows that no conscious effort or knowledge is required by the colony, ants therefore don't need intelligence to carry out what on the surface may seem like intelligent decision making....simple brains.
850702
Ants come from the earth's soil, which is home to possibly many known diseases. Not only do ants daily come into contact with the soil, but the waste they may leave behind can cause disease in humans. So, if ants were to walk all over your food after coming from the outside or just excrete waste on it, then you're prone to getting sick from them.
341115
I suppose they do but probably not at regular times like every 11pm or something. They probably take turns sleeping.\n\nThis site says some ants sleep 7 hours a day:\nhttp://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/ant.html
260062
Ants, like all insects, have 6 legs. Arachnids, such as spiders, have 8 legs.
731185
Strength is an integral part of their existence. With ants over millions of years the weak die and the strong survive, passing on genes to offspring.
61725
They mate in large swarms and then females go off to look for a suitable place to start excavating a nest. Soon after matying the males die. Mated females may live and lay fertile eggs for many years after their single mating. Reproductive ants, at the time of mating, are easily told from workers -- they have wings! If you were designing an insect that lives in tunnels underground, would you give them wings? If you are one of the lucky few who watch ants enough, you'll get to see the ant solution to the problem wings impose for digging in the ground.
684472
at the scale of an ant, the wall is actually pretty rough, so its like climbing a cliff. look above for info on how their feet have suckers and hooks - it like a combination of metal spikes and batmans suction cups.
1088972
Probably the weather, when it gets too cold or too hot they come on in and join the group- pesty little things. I would call someone to come spray around the outside of your house, if there are a lot.
45152
What are of you people talking about the ants rule the population. one small caibbean ant colonies combined has the world's population. so ants rule the population (those queen ants can work...wow).
839416
Ants have highly notable evolutionary mathematical instincts - just observe their colonies, chemically-organized behavior, and communal actions (e.g. marching, hunting, defending, etc.) as ONE creature.  They often build multilayer interlocking bridges (many times out of their own bodies), for instance, for other ants to cross over - suggesting that their geometrical instincts and architectural abilities are at least 3D)   ... However, if you like to "suppose" that they possess mathematical "reasoning", then why simply limit yourself to dimensional worlds?   ... Why not suppose that a first ant geometry can describe anomalously Transdimensional worlds, as well?   ... See, it pays to think like an ant, or at least a mathematician!   lol
185688
Look under leaves, wood, bricks, etc. Many insects like to burrow in tight, protective places. Failing that, check bushes and trees.
374351
put a small inclined plane by the ants. they will want to climb up the inclined plane.then put a bucket at the end of they inclined plane.they will go in the bucket and there you go.
36315
You could use ANT instead.
151792
- Ant communication is primarily through chemicals called pheromones. Because most ants spend their time in direct contact with the ground, these chemical messages are more developed than in other Hymenopterans. So, for instance, when a forager finds food on its way home (found typically through remembered landmarks and the position of the sun), it will leave a trail along the ground, which in a short time other ants will follow. When they return home they will reinforce the trail, bringing other ants, until the food is exhausted, after which the trail is not reinforced and so slowly dissipates. A crushed ant will emit an alarm pheromone, that in high concentration sends other ants nearby into an attack frenzy, and in lower concentration attracts them, while a few ants use what are called propaganda pheromones to confuse their enemies.\n\n- Ant trails have no intrinsic polarity; that is to say, an ant walking on a straight non-branching trail cannot tell whether it is walking to or from the nest. Trails always divide as a "Y", with the two secondary trails at a 60 degree angle to each other, and it is the geometry at trail junctions that give ant trails polarity. (Jackson et al, 2004)\n\n- Like other insects, ants smell with their antennae, which are long and thin. These are fairly mobile, having a distinct elbow joint after an elongated first segment, and since they come in pairs they provide information about direction as well as intensity. Pheromones are also exchanged as compounds mixed in with the food interchanged in trophallaxis, giving the ants information about one another's health and nutrition. Ants can also detect what task group (e.g. foraging or nest maintenance) other ants belong to. Of special note, the queen produces a special pheromone without which the workers will begin raising new queens.\n\n- Ants attack and defend themselves by biting, and in many species, stinging, in both cases sometimes injecting chemicals into the target. Of special note here is formic acid.\n\n- While many types of animals can learn behaviors by imitating other animals, ants may be the only group of animals besides humans in which interactive teaching behavior has been observed. Knowledgeable forager ants of the species Temnothorax albipennis directly lead naive nestmates to newly discovered food sources by an excruciatingly slow (and time-costly), process of 'tandem running'. The follower thereby obtains knowledge that it would not have, had it not been tutored, and this is at the expense of its nestmate teacher. Both leader and follower are acutely sensitive to the progress of their partner. For example, the leader slows down when the follower lags too far behind, and speeds up when the follower gets too close, whereas the follower does the opposite (Franks and Richardson, 2006).\n--------------------
507418
Ants are always out exploring, and two things happen here:\n\n1. One ant will come across the sugar and will make a trail from there to the colony, soon hordes of ants will follow the trail to bring home the bacon.\n\n2. As long as there is moisture, a nearby and will actually smell the sugar from a few yards away. It does have a smell too. Once he stumbles across it, the same will happen as described earlier.