What goes on inside an ant hill?

[stripee]

I've noticed that ant hills seem to start out as slightly raised areas in the grass, then over time get to be sizeable hillocks and then sometimes several hillocks together. Are more and more ants living inside and making new tunnels? I know they take the larvae up to the top of the hill to keep them warm, but how do they get the structure to grow from the ground, are they continually adding new storeys? I looked in the reference section but no answer!

[demicav]

Originally Posted by stripee

I've noticed that ant hills seem to start out as slightly raised areas in the grass, then over time get to be sizeable hillocks and then sometimes several hillocks together. Are more and more ants living inside and making new tunnels? I know they take the larvae up to the top of the hill to keep them warm, but how do they get the structure to grow from the ground, are they continually adding new storeys? I looked in the reference section but no answer!

Very good question. I don't know fully how it works but as far as I know it's quite complex and just as it is with many insects, the Queen is the boss. I'm interested in the replies to this question myself. My son loves Ants, has them crawling all over him in Summer.

[Tormentil]

Antics ??

[Purplepixii]

I didn't know the answer to this so went off to my favourite site for an answer - see info on link, quite interesting

Ant colony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[stripee]

Thanks purplepixii, this is a very interesting link So it seems that the mound is made from earth deposited at the entrance of excavated chambers...a large ant hillock must be the result of much effort by thousands of ants then.
I also found this:Ant Hill
with more basic stuff about ants. I find them fascinating too , Demicav. I like to watch them if on holiday abroad in the Med, where some live in holes rather than mounds, carrying huge objects for their size, co-operating in teams for what must be long distances for them and then getting it to fit inside the entrance hole in the ground and it disappears. Happy times spent watching this!!

[wyevilla]

There are a couple of different ant-hills found in this country.

The Yellow Meadow Ant (lasius flava) makes the grassy hillocks often seen in open pasture especially on hill-sides which don't get ploughed. The nests build up often over many years with soil being deposited on their upper surface as tunnells are excavated below ground level. Grass growing on the surface migrates outward through the new soil and so the hill gets higher and larger with age.

The wood ants (Formica) also build hills. Typically these are constructed of pine needles. However instead of the more static hills described above, these nests are dynamic. The ants constantly move the needles around. This has the effect of stopping the needles rotting and sticking together which keeps the nest aereated. Because of the shifting nature of the nest, plants do not grow on it and it is characterised by mounds of bare pine needles.

Hope this helps.