How Do Ants Survive the Winter? A Detailed Explanation of Ant Winter Survival Methods

Before winter arrives, ants will store up food for the winter in advance. Once winter comes, they enter a dormant state inside the ant nest.

1. What do ants eat?

Ants are divided by feeding habits into: lower species, which are carnivorous, feeding on insects, small animals, and even sick or dead large animals; the Dolichoderinae subspecies, and the higher species in the Myrmicinae and Formicinae subfamilies, which can feed on both animals and plants, and are especially fond of the “honeydew” secreted by aphids and scale insects; most other ants are omnivorous, feeding mainly on seeds, fruits, insects, and so on.

For example, Polyrhachis dives is a relatively higher omnivorous species and can be fed rice bran, wheat bran, beans, sugars, melons and fruits, and animal-based feed such as fish meal, silkworm pupae, bones, eggs, and live or dead insects, or chicken feed or a self-mixed feed.

Ants of the Ponerinae and Dorylinae subfamilies generally feed only on meat.

2. How do ants divide their labor?

1. The queen is responsible for laying eggs; the worker ants are responsible for building and defending the nest, caring for the queen, eggs, and larvae, and searching for food; the male ants are responsible for mating with the queen.

2. Most eggs will develop into females, which are called worker ants; a small number develop into queens and male ants. After the new queens and male ants mature, they mate, and after mating, the male ants die. The new queens then begin to lead yet another new colony and start a new life.