why are ants not smart enough to live when the queen dies?

Answer 1

All worker and solider ants are female, and sterile (this is the also true with bees). It's not that the ants aren't smart enough, they are not physically able to reproduce. Male ants are taken in to fertilize the queen or are only met once on a mating flight. When times get tough the males are expelled, or killed and eaten. So only the queen has his sperm. She can hold enough to lay thousands of eggs, but only she has the sperm.

The difference between ants and bees is that bees can force a larva to become a queen. They can feed royal jelly to some larva and replace their queens. Ants can't do this because they use eggs (to puncture an egg is to kill it). The only time a queen ant egg is laid is when the the nest population is too large. The queens take to a mating flight and then land near the old nest. The other ants are sent to that queen (she broadcasts pheromones, which is how the ant colony is run). Half of the colony comes over and builds a new nest.

Answer 2

Only the Queen lives a long time and only she can lay eggs. The workers eventually die and are not replaced by new ones once the queen dies.

Answer 3

I think that certain species of ant will adopted by another queen become their slave...as to losing the queen is a good question

there is more information at the site listed below...I wish could be of more assistance

Answer 4

after the queen is gone,,, what is left to live for... the queen is gone but the memory does not linger on...

Answer 5

Because as usual, the little boys need the woman to tell them what to do or they are lost/clueless and die.

Answer 6

because the queen is the one who produces all the larve.

Answer 7

I think they need to be ordered around and told what to do