What kind of food do ants eat?

jANeT's Answer:

Ants eat lots of insects - both dead and alive. They also eat rotting fruit, nectar, and other sweet stuff. Some gather leaves that they feed to fungus that they grow and eat. Here in the exhibit they eat dead crickets, apple, sunflower seeds and honey water.

Why can't the queen ant fly our of the exhibit and lay eggs around the museum?

jANeT's Answer:

The queen that is in each colony no longer has her wings. They usually remove them before starting a colony. The others don't fly because they need wind, more ants and other stuff that isn't happening in the museum - like summer monsoon storms.

What are their favorite food to eat? What do they do for a living? How many eggs do they lay at a time? Thank you!

jANeT's Answer:

Ants' favorite food is dead insets. Many of them also love tuna in oil, honey water ad other sweet stuff. What they do for a living is pretty amazing - they move tons of dirt, clean up the earth of dead insects and plants and some eat live insects. They don't get paid. The queens lay one egg at a time.

How big do ants get?

jANeT's Answer:

There are two answers to this question. Once an ant is grown up and looks like an ant it will not grow any more. So all the adult ants you see in the exhibit are as big as they get. The biggest ants in the world are over an inch long. I think they are called dinosaur ants.

What happens if a queen dies and there was only one queen?

jANeT's Answer:

All the colonies here only have one queen that is laying eggs to make workers. In the Pebble exhibit, there are also lots of new queens. If the queen dies the colony will eventually die out as the worker ants age and die.

What happens when they die?

jANeT's Answer:

When an ant dies, the other ants carry it to the trash pile or the morgue area. These are usually outside of the nest. Look for some of them here in the colonies.

Have you learned anything about the aesthetic preferences of ants? Is the piece or top of "Foothills Resort" a reference to Brancusi? I think you should develop a line of hair nets!

jANeT's Answer:

The piece in the Foothills Resort is a reference to the sculpture on River road. the aesthetic preferences will remain a secret but they do have strong preference for the important things - warmth, water, food, a willingness to contribute to the good of all, and they have a great sense of humor. The ants in Amazing keep putting their trash in their water dish. Makes for a messy clean-up.

Why don't ants fly?

jANeT's Answer:

Actually ants can fly - that is the ones that have wings. The ones with wings in the exhibit don't fly because it must not be the right conditions for them to fly. Normally they would fly in the summer monsoons. They might need an air current, more ants, male ants and a variety of other things that aren't present in the gallery.

Why do you keep ants in your art museum?

jANeT's Answer:

Ants are the primary focus of this artwork. We wanted to figure out a way to focus people's attention on these amazing animals. We were able to create a space that people seem to enjoy and feel pretty comfortable in. This allows them to look longer and think about the ants and what they are doing. I could go on for pages answering this question.

How do ants talk?

jANeT's Answer:

Ants have a complex system of chemicals that they use for communicating with each other. They also have several ways of tapping each other with their antennae - kind of a greeting. Some species even stridulate - this is rubbing parts of their body against each other that makes a squeaking sound. that is just the beginning.

Do you think we're

alot like ants A

a little like ants B

just like ants C

not at all like ants D

jANeT's Answer:

Well, I think it really depends on a specific situation.

On the environment - D

Organizations & Institutions - B

Matriarchy - B

Our ability to cooperate - A

Need for community - A

Food choices - B - depending on where you live.

Do ants drink beverages, for what reason?

jANeT's Answer:

Ants drink beverages for the same reason we do - they are thirsty and need water. Some drink nectar which also has sugars which provide energy too. Also often the food they eat is very moist and supplies alot of the moisture they need.

How do ants make hills?

jANeT's Answer:

Ants make hills by digging in the dirt. They are building tunnels underground and as they bring up the soil bits they eventually build a hill. It is done a small bit of soil or small rocks one at a time.

I like your ants they are sooo coool. And the way you guys keep them in the Jars without anything on top, Love, SR

I noticed the question regarding science vs. art. I see the exhibit as art, not science--i.o., the structural design and beauty of ants--looked at in multi-dimensional levels/ways.

Also, the contrast between art --often as "still beauty" (static) i.e. scultpure..as opposed to "art in motion" --dynamic (music..theatre, etc.)

The aunts are really neat and I have never seen so many aunts before . The person that works with them is really lucky!