Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.

Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen individuals often living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories with sizeable nest that consist of millions of individuals or into the hundreds of millions in super colonies. Typical colonies consist of various castes of sterile, wingless females, most of which are workers (ergates), as well as soldiers (dinergates) and other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens" (gynes). The colonies are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.

Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in moist tropical ecosystems and may exceed the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships.

Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rites. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents. Their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) of South America, are regarded as invasive species in other parts of the world, establishing themselves in areas where they have been introduced accidentally.

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      • Chronicon [they/them]
        ·
        2 months ago

        If you're anything like the average person these days and mainly do your computing in a web browser, it'll probably be a very easy learning curve. If not, it varies, but for the most part its really pretty easy/similar. If it's a laptop you might want to look up other people's experience first just to see if they threw in any weird unsupported hardware (example: my last laptop the fingerprint reader had no linux support for the first couple years because they went with some no-name brand chip, but I didn't really use it anyhow)

        • Wmill [they/them]
          ·
          2 months ago

          I do need to get around to it eventually, whenever windows 10 security support ends I don't exactly got the means to run windows 11. Not to mention that whole thing that crashed windows a month or so ago was scary

          • Chronicon [they/them]
            ·
            2 months ago

            Not to mention that whole thing that crashed windows a month or so ago was scary

            that was, for once, not a Windows issue, it was some 3rd party security software (company has a lot of high end connections so it is used by a lot of US natsec/critical infra adjacent companies). That same company did a similar thing on the linux version of their software but it was a much smaller issue because there's a wide range of different linux kernels out there and only one or two were affected iirc)