Seeing an ant be born is like watching a whole process of nursing and cleaning going on. The ants really help each other to come out of the cocoons they are born in. In most ant species only the queen ant lays eggs. The males she mated with soon die, and she only mate once.
The worker ants collect the eggs and care for the larvae and pupae. The pupae is the cocoon which looks like a rice grain. It is very necessary for the queens to produce as many ants as possible, because an average worker ant lives 2-3 weeks, so they need to be replaced in order to sustain the colony.
Here you can see the process of an ants birth in pictures. There is something about the ants that makes them look like caring creatures; they take care of each other, and it’s almost weird to think how such a small insect can understand that the ants need help to come out of their pupaes.
Impressive. Speaking of insects and their way of living, here you can see the toughest spider webs of the world.
Via Tagry@LiveJournal.