Editing Ant (section)

==Relationship with humans==
[[Image:AntsStitchingLeave.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Weaver ant]]s are used as a [[biological control]] for citrus cultivation in southern China.]]
Ants perform many ecological roles that are beneficial to humans, including the suppression of [[Pest (organism)|pest]] populations and aeration of the [[soil]]. The use of [[weaver ant]]s in [[citrus]] cultivation in southern China is considered one of the oldest known applications of [[biological control]].<ref name = HolldoblerWilsonAnts3>Hölldobler & Wilson (1990), pp. 619–629</ref> On the other hand, ants may become nuisances when they invade buildings or cause economic losses.

In some parts of the world (mainly Africa and South America), large ants, especially [[army ant]]s, are used as [[surgical suture]]s. The wound is pressed together and ants are applied along it. The ant seizes the edges of the wound in its mandibles and locks in place. The body is then cut off and the head and mandibles remain in place to close the wound.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Gottrup F, Leaper D |year=2004 |title=Wound healing: Historical aspects |journal=[[EWMA Journal]] |volume=4 |issue=2 |url=http://www.ewma.org/pdf/fall04/Historical_Aspects.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616090223/http://www.ewma.org/pdf/fall04/Historical_Aspects.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-16|pages=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Gudger EW|year=1925|title=Stitching wounds with the mandibles of ants and beetles|journal=Journal of the American Medical Association|volume=84|pages=1861–1864|doi=10.1001/jama.1925.02660500069048|issue=24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Robert M.|last=Sapolsky | name-list-style=vanc |author-link=Robert Sapolsky|year=2001|title=A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons|url=https://archive.org/details/primatesmemoir00robe|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/primatesmemoir00robe/page/156 156]|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-0241-1}}</ref> The large heads of the dinergates (soldiers) of the leafcutting ant ''[[Atta cephalotes]]'' are also used by native surgeons in closing wounds.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wheeler|first1=William M. | name-list-style=vanc |author-link=William Morton Wheeler|title=Ants: Their Structure, Development and Behavior|year=1910|series=[[Columbia University Biological Series]]|volume=9|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|isbn=978-0-231-00121-2|pages=10|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.1937|lccn=10008253|oclc=560205|title-link=s:Index:Ants, Wheeler (1910).djvu }}</ref>

Some ants have [[ant venom|toxic venom]] and are of [[Ants of medical importance|medical importance]]. The species include ''[[Paraponera clavata]]'' (tocandira) and ''[[Dinoponera]]'' spp. (false tocandiras) of South America<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Haddad Junior V, Cardoso JL, Moraes RH | title = Description of an injury in a human caused by a false tocandira (Dinoponera gigantea, Perty, 1833) with a revision on folkloric, pharmacological and clinical aspects of the giant ants of the genera Paraponera and Dinoponera (sub-family Ponerinae) | journal = Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo | volume = 47 | issue = 4 | pages = 235–238 | year = 2005 | pmid = 16138209 | doi = 10.1590/S0036-46652005000400012 | doi-access = free | hdl = 11449/30504 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> and the ''Myrmecia'' ants of Australia.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = McGain F, Winkel KD | title = Ant sting mortality in Australia | journal = Toxicon | volume = 40 | issue = 8 | pages = 1095–1100 | date = August 2002 | pmid = 12165310 | doi = 10.1016/S0041-0101(02)00097-1 | bibcode = 2002Txcn...40.1095M }}</ref>

In [[South Africa]], ants are used to help harvest the seeds of [[rooibos]] (''Aspalathus linearis''), a plant used to make a herbal tea. The plant disperses its seeds widely, making manual collection difficult. Black ants collect and store these and other seeds in their nest, where humans can gather them ''en masse''. Up to half a pound (200&nbsp;g) of seeds may be collected from one ant-heap.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ciel.org/Publications/InnovativeMechanisms.pdf|title=Innovative mechanisms for sharing benefits of biodiversity and related knowledge|vauthors=Downes D, Laird SA |year=1999|publisher=The Center for International Environmental Law|access-date=8 June 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080423211123/http://www.ciel.org/Publications/InnovativeMechanisms.pdf| archive-date= 23 April 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Economic Botany|title=Rooibos tea, a South African contribution to world beverages|volume=17|issue=3|pages=186–194|year=1963|vauthors=Cheney RH, Scholtz E |doi=10.1007/BF02859435|bibcode=1963EcBot..17..186C |s2cid=37728834}}</ref>

Although most ants survive attempts by humans to eradicate them, a few are highly endangered. These tend to be island species that have evolved specialized traits and risk being displaced by introduced ant species. Examples include the critically endangered [[Sri Lankan relict ant]] (''Aneuretus simoni'') and ''[[Adetomyrma venatrix]]'' of Madagascar.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The influence of sociality on the conservation biology of social insects | vauthors = Chapman RE, Bourke AF |journal= Ecology Letters|volume=4|issue=6|year=2001|pages=650–662|doi=10.1046/j.1461-0248.2001.00253.x|doi-access=| bibcode = 2001EcolL...4..650C | s2cid = 86796899 }}</ref>

===As food===
{{See also|Entomophagy}}
[[File:Ants For Food SG.jpg|thumb|left|Roasted ants in Colombia]]
[[Image:Ants Eggs Market Thailand.jpg|thumb|left|Ant larvae for sale in [[Isaan]], Thailand]]
Ants and their larvae are eaten in different parts of the world. The eggs of two species of ants are used in Mexican ''[[escamoles]]''. They are considered a form of insect [[caviar]] and can sell for as much as US$50 per kg going up to US$200 per kg (as of 2006) because they are seasonal and hard to find.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cruz-Labana |first1=J. D. |last2=Tarango-Arámbula |first2=L. A. |last3=Alcántara-Carbajal |first3=J. L. |last4=Pimentel-López |first4=J. |last5=Ugalde-Lezama |first5=S. |last6=Ramírez-Valverde |first6=G. |last7=Méndez-Gallegos |first7=S. J. |date=2014 |title=Habitat use by the "Escamolera" ant (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr) in central Mexico |url=http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1405-31952014000600001&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=en |journal=Agrociencia|volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=569–582 |issn=1405-3195}}</ref> In the [[Colombia]]n department of [[Santander Department|Santander]], ''hormigas culonas'' (roughly interpreted as "large-bottomed ants") ''[[Atta laevigata]]'' are toasted alive and eaten.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = DeFoliart GR | title = Insects as food: why the western attitude is important | journal = Annual Review of Entomology | volume = 44 | pages = 21–50 | year = 1999 | pmid = 9990715 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.ento.44.1.21 }}</ref> In areas of [[India]], and throughout [[Burma]] and [[Thailand]], a paste of the green weaver ant (''[[Oecophylla smaragdina]]'') is served as a condiment with curry.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bingham|first= C.T.|year=1903|title=Fauna of British India. Hymenoptera. Volume 2|page=311|url=https://archive.org/details/hymenoptera02bing/page/311/mode/1up| publisher=Taylor and Francis|place=London}}</ref> [[Oecophylla|Weaver ant]] eggs and larvae, as well as the ants, may be used in a [[Thai salad]], ''yam'' ({{langx|th|ยำ}}), in a dish called ''yam khai mot daeng'' ({{langx|th|ยำไข่มดแดง}}) or red [[ant eggs|ant egg]] salad, a dish that comes from the [[Issan]] or north-eastern region of Thailand. [[William Saville-Kent|Saville-Kent]], in the ''Naturalist in Australia'' wrote "Beauty, in the case of the green ant, is more than skin-deep. Their attractive, almost sweetmeat-like translucency possibly invited the first essays at their consumption by the human species". Mashed up in water, after the manner of lemon squash, "these ants form a pleasant acid drink which is held in high favor by the natives of North Queensland, and is even appreciated by many European palates".<ref name="beq">{{cite journal |author=Bequaert J|year=1921 |title=Insects as food: How they have augmented the food supply of mankind in early and recent times|journal=Natural History Journal|volume=21|pages=191–200|url=http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/editors_pick/1921_03-04_pick.html}}</ref> Ants or their pupae are used as starters for yogurt making in parts of Bulgaria and Turkey.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mutlu Sirakova |first=Sevgi |date=2023 |title=Forgotten Stories of Yogurt: Cultivating Multispecies Wisdom |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02780771231194779 |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology |language=en |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=250–261 |doi=10.1177/02780771231194779 |issn=0278-0771}}</ref>

In his ''First Summer in the Sierra'', [[John Muir]] notes that the [[Mono people|Digger Indians]] of [[California]] ate the tickling, acid gasters of the large jet-black [[carpenter ant]]s. The Mexican Indians eat the [[Honeypot ant|repletes]], or living honey-pots, of the [[honey ant]] (''[[Myrmecocystus]]'').<ref name="beq"/>

===As pests===
{{See also|Ants of medical importance}}
[[File:Monomorium pharaonis.jpg|thumb|The tiny [[pharaoh ant]] is a major pest in hospitals and office blocks; it can make nests between sheets of paper.]]
Some ant species are considered as pests, primarily those that occur in human habitations, where their presence is often problematic. For example, the presence of ants would be undesirable in sterile places such as hospitals or kitchens. Some species or genera commonly categorized as pests include the [[Argentine ant]], [[Tetramorium immigrans|immigrant pavement ant]], [[yellow crazy ant]], [[banded sugar ant]], [[pharaoh ant]], [[Formica rufa|red wood ant]], [[black carpenter ant]], [[Tapinoma sessile|odorous house ant]], [[red imported fire ant]], and [[Myrmica rubra|European fire ant]]. Some ants will raid stored food, some will seek water sources, others may damage indoor structures, some may damage agricultural crops directly or by aiding sucking pests. Some will sting or bite.<ref name="pests">{{cite web|url=http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7411.html|title=Pest Notes: Ants (Publication 7411)|publisher=University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources|year=2007|access-date=5 June 2008}}</ref> The adaptive nature of ant colonies make it nearly impossible to eliminate entire colonies and most pest management practices aim to control local populations and tend to be temporary solutions. Ant populations are managed by a combination of approaches that make use of chemical, biological, and physical methods. Chemical methods include the use of insecticidal bait which is gathered by ants as food and brought back to the nest where the poison is inadvertently spread to other colony members through [[trophallaxis]]. Management is based on the species and techniques may vary according to the location and circumstance.<ref name="pests" />

===In science and technology===
{{See also|Myrmecology|Biomimetics|Ant colony optimization algorithms}}
[[File:Formicariums.jpg|''[[Camponotus nearcticus]]'' workers travelling between two formicaria through connector tubing|thumb|right]]
Observed by humans since the dawn of history, the behaviour of ants has been documented and the subject of early writings and fables passed from one century to another. Those using scientific methods, [[Myrmecology|myrmecologists]], study ants in the laboratory and in their natural conditions. Their complex and variable social structures have made ants ideal [[model organism]]s. [[Ultraviolet vision]] was first discovered in ants by [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|Sir John Lubbock]] in 1881.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Lubbock J | year=1881|title=Observations on ants, bees, and wasps. IX. Color of flowers as an attraction to bees: Experiments and considerations thereon|journal=J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.)|volume=16|pages=110–112|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1882.tb02275.x|issue=90|doi-access=| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/377086}}</ref> Studies on ants have tested hypotheses in [[ecology]] and [[sociobiology]], and have been particularly important in examining the predictions of theories of [[kin selection]] and [[Evolutionarily stable strategy|evolutionarily stable strategies]].<ref>{{cite book|vauthors=Stadler B, Dixon AF|year=2008|title=Mutualism: Ants and their insect partners|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-86035-2}}</ref> Ant colonies may be studied by rearing or temporarily maintaining them in ''[[formicarium|formicaria]]'', specially constructed glass framed enclosures.<ref name=myrmtech>{{cite journal|title=Myrmecological technique. IV. Collecting ants by rearing pupae|author=Kennedy CH|journal=The Ohio Journal of Science|volume=51|issue=1|year=1951|pages=17–20|hdl=1811/3802}}</ref> Individuals may be tracked for study by marking them with dots of colours.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Wojcik DP, Burges RJ, Blanton CM, Focks DA|year=2000|title=An improved and quantified technique for marking individual fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)|journal=The Florida Entomologist|volume=83|issue=1|pages=74–78|doi=10.2307/3496231|jstor=3496231|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The successful techniques used by ant colonies have been studied in computer science and robotics to produce distributed and fault-tolerant systems for solving problems, for example [[Ant colony optimization]] and [[Ant robotics]]. This area of [[biomimetics]] has led to studies of ant locomotion, search engines that make use of "foraging trails", fault-tolerant storage, and networking algorithms.<ref name="SANdisk">{{cite journal |vauthors=Dicke E, Byde A, Cliff D, Layzell P |year=2004 |title=An ant-inspired technique for storage area network design |journal=Proceedings of Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology: First International Workshop, BioADIT 2004 LNCS 3141 |pages=364–379 | veditors = Ispeert AJ, Murata M, Wakamiya N }}</ref>

===As pets===
{{main|Ant-keeping}}
From the late 1950s through the late 1970s, [[formicarium|ant farms]] were popular educational children's toys in the United States. Some later commercial versions use transparent gel instead of soil, allowing greater visibility at the cost of stressing the ants with unnatural light.<ref>{{cite patent |country= US |number= 5803014 |status= granted |title= Habitat media for ants and other invertebrates|pubdate= |gdate= 8 September 1998 |inventor=  Guri A |assign1= Plant Cell Technology Inc }}</ref>

===In culture===
[[Image:The Ant and the Grasshopper - Project Gutenberg etext 19994.jpg|thumb|left|[[Aesop]]'s ants]]
[[Anthropomorphism|Anthropomorphised]] ants have often been used in fables, children's stories, and religious texts to represent industriousness and cooperative effort, such as in the [[Aesop]] fable [[The Ant and the Grasshopper]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Quran |chapter= The Ant, The Ants | volume = Surah 27 | pages = 18–19 |chapter-url=http://www.wright-house.com/religions/islam/Quran/27-ant.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101181115/http://www.wright-house.com/religions/islam/Quran/27-ant.html |archive-date=2007-01-01 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first = Sahih | last = Bukhari | name-list-style=vanc | title = Sunnah | volume = 4 Book 54 | issue = 536 | chapter = Beginning of Creation | chapter-url=http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/054.sbt.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818092520/http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/054.sbt.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2000-08-18}}</ref> In the [[Quran]], [[Solomon|Sulayman]] is said to have heard and understood an ant warning other ants to return home to avoid being accidentally crushed by Sulayman and his marching army.{{CiteQuran Ayah|27|18|s=y|b=yl}},<ref>Mentioned once in the{{Quran ref|a=ASA|597|i=1|h=1}}, [[Muhammad Asad]] translates the verse as following: till, when they came upon a valley [full] of ants, and an ant exclaimed: "O you ants! Get into your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you without [even] being aware [of you]! (27:18)"</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Mawil Y. Izzi|last=Deen | name-list-style=vanc |chapter=Islamic Environmental Ethics, Law, and Society|title=Ethics of Environment and Development| veditors = Engel JR, Engel JG |year=1990|publisher=Bellhaven Press, London|chapter-url=http://www.mbcru.com/Texas%20Tech%20Mypage/Conservation%20Biology/Assignment%202/IzziDeenIslamicEcol.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714055330/http://www.mbcru.com/Texas%20Tech%20Mypage/Conservation%20Biology/Assignment%202/IzziDeenIslamicEcol.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-07-14}}</ref> In parts of Africa, ants are considered to be the messengers of the deities. Some [[Native American mythology]], such as the [[Hopi mythology]], considers ants as the first animals. Ant bites are often said to have curative properties. The sting of some species of ''[[Pseudomyrmex]]'' is claimed to give fever relief.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Balee WL|title=Antiquity of traditional ethnobiological knowledge in Amazonia: The Tupi-Guarani family and time |journal=[[Ethnohistory (journal)|Ethnohistory]] |volume=47 |issue=2 |year=2000 |pages=399–422|doi=10.1215/00141801-47-2-399|s2cid=162813070 }}</ref> Ant bites are used in the [[initiation]] ceremonies of some Amazon Indian cultures as a test of endurance.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Cesard N, Deturche J, Erikson P |year=2003 |chapter=Les Insectes dans les pratiques médicinales et rituelles d'Amazonie indigène | veditors = Motte-Florac E, Thomas JM |title=Les insectes dans la tradition orale|publisher=Peeters-Selaf, Paris|pages=395–406|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Schmidt RJ | title = The super-nettles. A dermatologist's guide to ants in the plants | journal = International Journal of Dermatology | volume = 24 | issue = 4 | pages = 204–210 | date = May 1985 | pmid = 3891647 | doi = 10.1111/j.1365-4362.1985.tb05760.x | s2cid = 73875767 | url = http://www.botanical-dermatology-database.info/BotDermReviews/Myrmecophytes.html }}</ref> In [[Greek mythology]], the goddess [[Athena]] turned the maiden [[Myrmex (Attic woman)|Myrmex]] into an ant when the latter claimed to have invented the plough, when in fact it was Athena's own invention.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid'' [https://topostext.org/work/548#4.402 4.402]; [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith]] 1873, s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D32%3Aentry%3Dmyrmex-bio-1 Myrmex]</ref>

[[File:Multia vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright|An ant pictured in the coat of arms of [[Multia, Finland|Multia]], a town in Finland]]

Ant society has always fascinated humans and has been written about both humorously and seriously. [[Mark Twain]] wrote about ants in his 1880 book ''[[A Tramp Abroad]]''.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=22 The Black Forest and Its Treasures|title=A Tramp Abroad|last=Twain|first=Mark|name-list-style=vanc|year=1880|chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/119/|isbn=978-0-19-510137-9|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|access-date=2015-12-13|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/trampabroad0000twai_z6u7}}</ref> Some modern authors have used the example of the ants to comment on the relationship between society and the individual. Examples are [[Robert Frost]] in his poem "Departmental" and [[T. H. White]] in his fantasy novel ''[[The Once and Future King]]''. The plot in French entomologist and writer [[Bernard Werber]]'s ''[[Les Fourmis]]'' science-fiction trilogy is divided between the worlds of ants and humans; ants and their behaviour are described using contemporary scientific knowledge. [[H. G. Wells]] wrote about intelligent ants destroying human settlements in Brazil and threatening human civilization in his 1905 science-fiction short story, ''[[Empire of the Ants|The Empire of the Ants]].'' A similar German story involving army ants, ''[[Leiningen Versus the Ants]]'', was written in 1937 and recreated in movie form as [[The Naked Jungle]] in 1954.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Winthrop-Young |first=Geoffrey |date=2021 |title=A Green Hell Makes Better Germans: Carl Stephenson's "Leiningen" and the Almost Aryan Countertextual Army Ants |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00168890.2021.1977228 |journal=The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory|volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=339–356 |doi=10.1080/00168890.2021.1977228 |s2cid=245125375 |issn=0016-8890}}</ref> In more recent times, animated cartoons and 3-D animated films featuring ants have been produced including ''[[Antz]]'', ''[[A Bug's Life]]'', ''[[The Ant Bully (film)|The Ant Bully]]'', ''[[The Ant and the Aardvark]]'', ''[[Ferdy the Ant (TV series)|Ferdy the Ant]]'' and ''[[Atom Ant]].'' Renowned [[Myrmecology|myrmecologist]] [[E. O. Wilson]] wrote a short story, "Trailhead" in 2010 for ''[[The New Yorker]]'' magazine, which describes the life and death of an ant-queen and the rise and fall of her colony, from an ants' point of view.<ref name="Trailhead">{{cite magazine|author=Wilson, EO|url=http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/01/25/100125fi_fiction_wilson?currentPage=all |title=Trailhead|magazine=The New Yorker|date=25 January 2010|pages=56–62}}</ref>

Ants also are quite popular inspiration for many [[science-fiction]] [[Insectoids in science fiction|insectoid]]s, such as the Formics of ''[[Ender's Game]]'', the Bugs of ''[[Starship Troopers]]'', the giant ants in the films ''[[Them!]]'' and ''[[Empire of the Ants (film)|Empire of the Ants]],'' [[Marvel Comics]]' super hero [[Ant-Man]], and ants mutated into super-intelligence in ''[[Phase IV (1974 film)|Phase IV]]''. In computer [[strategy games]], ant-based species often benefit from increased production rates due to their single-minded focus, such as the Klackons in the ''[[Master of Orion]]'' series of games or the ChCht in ''[[Deadlock II]]''. These characters are often credited with a [[Group mind (science fiction)|hive mind]], a common misconception about ant colonies.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Robots, insects and swarm intelligence|journal=Artificial Intelligence Review|volume=26|issue=4|year=2006|author=Sharkey AJC|doi=10.1007/s10462-007-9057-y|pages=255–268|s2cid=321326}}</ref> In the early 1990s, the video game ''[[SimAnt]]'', which simulated an ant colony, won the 1992 [[Software and Information Industry Association#CODiE Awards|Codie award]] for "Best Simulation Program".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.siia.net/codies/2009/pw_1992.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611002722/http://www.siia.net/codies/2009/pw_1992.asp |archive-date=2009-06-11 |title= 1992 Excellence in Software Awards Winners |access-date=3 April 2008|publisher=Software & Information Industry Association}}</ref>