1. Did you know that they are found on on every continent but Antarctica. The scientific name is Formicidae which has more than 15,000 species.

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2. Their habitats range from rain forest canopies to the Sahara Desert, with most ants living in hierarchical colonies with a single egg-laying queen. Males’ sole job is mating, and female workers do everything else.

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3. Ants may be stereotyped as picnic pests, but they’re an important cleanup crew: A 2014 study of New York City streets estimated that every year, arthropods pick up the equivalent of 60,000 hot dogs in dropped food waste just along the road medians of 150 city blocks.

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4. Sometimes ants end up on the menu themselves. When in Colombia, try the delicacy hormigas culonas(literally “big-bottomed ants”): fertilized queens of a large leaf cutter species, served brined and toasted.

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5. Ants have been given as wedding gifts!

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6. Tribes in Kerala, India, treat swollen joints and infected skin with a medicinal oil of crushed weaver ants.

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7. We don’t recommend rubbing your body with ants, but if you do, watch out for the formic acid found in the venom of many species, including fire ants.

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8. Naturally antimicrobial, formic acid is good for more than giving bites and stings their zing, whether you’ve got six legs or two: Humans put it in laundry detergents and hand soaps, while wood ants mix it with tree resin to create a kind of hygienic paint for their nests.

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9. A tidy nest takes lots of work, and around 60 species of ants “enslave” other species to do their bidding, often by stealing brood and raising them as their own workers. But sometimes slave ants revolt, attacking their overlords, attempting to mate and lay eggs, and even making a run for freedom.

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10. “Dracula ants,” a range of species found across the world, earn their name by drinking the hemolymph (essentially, ant blood) of their own larvae — but without killing them.

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Ants can be a nuisance when inside your home. Learn more about how a Grand Rapids pest control company deals with these issues.