What causes the flying ant day
The phenomenon of flying ants, gathering en masse, begins when male and female ants sprout wings and venture out of their nests.
They are on their “wedding flight” trying to find other colonies of ants to mate with.
According to the sociology of biology, this is an important phase in the reproduction of the ant species.
A single queen flying ant colony typically has around 5,000 workers.
However, they are known to have up to 15,000 flying ants.
The ants mate in flight, which is why we can see so many at this time of year.
The queens lose their wings, so you can usually see ants walking around alone after the “Flying Ant Day”.
The flying ants that you will encounter in your town or garden are almost certainly the black garden variety Lasius niger. Their nests have a single queen and usually around 5,000 workers, although it can be up to 15,000.
The ants you see most of the year are workers who gather food for the colony. The workers are all female and will live as adults for about a month. The flying ants you see once a year are males and young queens.
