Killer Ants

Killer ants are basically species of highly predatory and aggressive ants that attack in large numbers if their mounds are disturbed or if the spot an immobilized animal. And by animal, I mean even an immobilized deer! Apparently more deaths are caused by these ants than by any other predatory animal. What happens is that if their ant hills are disturbed, the first ant who attacks the animal or the person disturbing it, leaves a hormone in the air, sensing which other ants come and attack. So that means, at a time much more than 5000 ants come to attack. This of course depends on the size of the colony also.

Types of Killer Ants

Fire Ants
Fire ants are one of the deadliest ants who attack en masse, i.e. in large numbers. These ants populate most of the world and are highly aggressive. Their sting is very painful, after about some hours the stung sight develops white pus filled blisters. They vary in sizes from 1/16 to 1/5 inches long. They are dark red in color and have a brownish abdomen. Their mounds are roughly 15 inches high with a diameter of 15 inches and are up to 5 feet deep. These ants are known to kill small animal and even calves. Like mentioned above if one ant bites, it is sure shot that nearly the entire colony will attack. Humans too can die due to anaphylaxis shock and animals who can't get away fast are often consumed by these ants.

The Argentine Ant
These dark ants are native to Argentina but were introduced to the different parts of the world by humans. These ants are known to invade into other ant mounds and human settlements. They are of great importance to the medical world, as it is believed that they are capable of carrying pathogens into hospitals. These ants are about 0.12 inches long. These ants have one queen ant in every 10,000 worker ants. These ants multiply mainly buy diving their colonies and relocating. They are known to destroy the habitats of other animals and ants in the ecosystem. It is believed that these ants are responsible for the declining numbers of the horned lizards that are found in California. These ants also protect pests in farmlands in exchange for a substance known as honeydew, as a result of which damage to crops also increases with their presence.

Bulldog Ants
These were once widespread across the globe but today they are only found in Australia. These ants attack bees and local ant colonies. Their favorite food source is the carpenter ants. Unlike other ants these ants are not that cooperative amongst themselves . The only thing that they do as a group is tend to the larva. These ants have a very sharp vision and are known to be very aggressive towards intruders, including humans.

Bullet Ants
Bullet ants have the most deadliest and the most painful sting in the world. These ants are huge in size, about 1 inch long. The intense pain lasts for about 24 hours. They get their name from the fact that being bitten by them is similar to getting shot by a gun. Imagine the ordeal that some young boys of South American tribes have to go through for their initiation into manhood. These ants are woven into gloves made of leaves, which the boys wear. They have to endure the bites of these ants for up to 10 minutes! The arms of these boys quiver for almost a day and are almost paralyzed during that time.

The Siafu Ants
The Siafu ants are the killer ants of Africa and are amongst the most deadliest ants. These ants can sting but what is worse than their sting is the hold of their jaw. It is said that once the ant bites, the only way to save yourself is 'break' the ant body and run, because when the food is short, colonies of up to 50,000,000 ants migrated through the African plains, killing anything that is edible. This includes animals and humans who can't get away fast enough. In fact, the Maasai tribesmen use these ants as emergency wound sealers. They make the ant bite on either side of the wound and break its body, the jaw can hold the wound shut for days.

Yellow Crazy Ants
No, I didn't come up with the name yellow crazy ants. They get the 'crazy' in their name because of their erratic behavior when their mound is disturbed. These ants are yellow in color and have long legs. They are one of the most deadliest 'tramp ants' as they are known to destroy the ecosystems of the areas they invade. These killer ants on Christmas Island have destroyed the ecosystems of 17 species of crabs found there.

So this was everything on killer ants. Ants outnumber humans on earth, let's hope these killer ants don't destroy the other not so killer species of ants. Otherwise, we are in one big problem!