Ant colonies form some of the most complex societies on earth. Some myrmecologists suggest that ant colonies could be considered a super organism in which individual ants make up the individual “cells”, all working together performing specialized tasks for the benefit of the whole.

Ants are born into one of three castes all with a specialized and important task required of them within the community. The worker caste are just that, the peasant class that performs most of the day to day operations of the colony. The soldier caste are bred to be the army and police force of the superorganism, acting as an immune system would. Lastly we have reproductives that are in most cases winged and are capable of starting a new colony or breeding immediately to supplment a growing colony in the case of some ant species.

Aside from supporting their own needs, ants are more like humans than say Termites as they also have mutualistic relationships with other species as well. Many different species of beetles, aphids, fungi and other insects also live in ant colonies perform specific tasks for the superorganism much like beneficial microbes in the human body. The ants farm fungus and herd and milk aphids and welcome others bugs in that have something to contribute to the colony. Truly an amazing society much like our own.