The colony is made out of queens, workers, and drones. In most species, there is only one queen per colony.

The queen is the mother of all the ants in the nest. The workers are all females.

Workers do all the chores around the nest.

The males’ only function is to mate with the young queens. Once this is accomplished the male will die.

Males grow out of unfertilized eggs, while all females grow from fertilized eggs.

Ant's head

The queen lays the eggs.

The workers keep the eggs clean and free from mold by licking them.

It takes about 3 months for an egg to become an adult ant.