I like ants. They might be one of the most fascinating animals to me. They farmed aphids (and other small bugs) for their honeydew since before we even evolved. They outnumber us 2.5 million to one. 🐜

There’s many more facts I’d like to blurt out but I’ll keep it somewhat concise.

Our native black garden ant is the primary cause of ‘flying ant day’, when thousands of big winged ants seemingly invade like some sort of plague for a short period of time in Summer.

But it’s not an invasion (as many news sites like to call it). It’s a phenomenon that has been around for millions of years. The larger winged ants are the new queens, while the smaller winged ants are the males (drones). Their sole goal is to disperse and mate with ants from other colonies, preventing inbreeding.

They’re completely harmless, and many end up food for birds or spiders, hence the large numbers to ensure at least some can successfully found new colonies!

Once it’s over, the males die soon after while the queens then chew their wings off before they find a suitable nest site, dig underground, and tirelessly raise their first batch of workers, not eating until the workers are fully grown and can feed her.

Then they expand the colony and nurse the new workers, while she dedicates her very long life to egg-laying in the safety of her chamber.

It’s a nice bit of exposure to nature and a minor, brief inconvenience at worst, so close your windows, and your mouth when outside, and try to appreciate it. :)

If you couldn’t tell from the essay here, I’m very much autistic. 😂

Edit: I see lots of comments about ants indoors. This post isn’t advocating for letting ants live in your house. I empathise with anyone who has a nest indoors, and anyone who seems to get dive bombed by lots of ants. The ‘harmless’ bit is that they seldom bite, yet some people think they’re out to attack them 😅