This story appears in the June 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine. It’s good to be the queen—the ant queen, that is—because mating does wonders for her immune system. When exposure ...

Southern or red wood ants are the largest of the 51 native ant species in Britain ... After fulfilling their duty, they die. A fertilised young queen may return to her home nest, where workers will ...

There are two main species of wood ants - hairy wood ants and red wood ants. Hairy wood ants are a northern species in the UK, but they are found as far south as mid Wales. They are less fussy ...

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions There are two main species of wood ants - hairy wood ants and red ...