Ants are perhaps the most successful insect, and one of the most successful members of the animal kingdom on earth. Ants live practically everywhere, but are most abundant in warm climates. There are about 10,000 kinds, or "species," of ants; within each species, there are usually many different types.

Ants are social insects that live in colonies; these colonies include one or more queens, as well as workers, eggs, larvae, and pupae.

The worker ants maintain their developed structures known as nests. Nests protect the ants against their enemies, offer some protection against extremes of weather, and often are placed close to water and food sources. Some ant species nest in the ground, oftentimes under concrete or slabs. Some species are found in wood (such as fence posts, dead logs, hollow trees, or within buildings). Ants cannot eat wood as termites do, because ant cannot digest cellulose; so, although ant will dig out or hollow out a cavity in the wood (known as a nest gallery), ant damage to wood is less extensive than that of termites.

The body structure of an ant is typical of almost all insects: six-legged, with a tough "outside skeleton," called the exoskeleton. Unlike most other insects, ants have an extremely small "waist" between the abdomen and thorax, making ants easier to identify.

The ant's exoskeleton encases three separate body parts and the two multi-purpose antennae. The exoskeleton shell, which contains varying amounts of an organic compound called "chitin," protects the ant from the weather, injury and water loss. The shell and its muscle arrangement imparts to the ant great strength relative to its mass, allowing it to drag objects (including other insects) many times its own weight and size

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