Any ant experts in the house

[Marty63]

Was asked a question by a small person today

'Do ants go to sleep at night?'

Can't remember covering this at school all those decades ago.

any ideas ??

[Japveesix]

Yup, they need about 7 hours a night utilising a rather clever bunk bed system so they all fit in.

[Hackney]

No, but I know a fair bit about Dec

[951TSE]

Good Question. I would imagine that they would return to their colony to avoid predation and also being cold blooded (or what passes for blood in insects) they would tend to slow down as the sun goes down and the earth cools. The colony would then need the combined heat of all the ants together to maintain an even temperature and keep the larvae warm until the heat of the sun starts to do the job again the next day, then the main body of ants can go out foraging for food again. Each individual would tend to slow down but not 'sleep' in the way we do.

I'm not an expert on ants but know a little bit about bees this is how they do it so I assume the ants would be similar.

[Marty63]

That makes sense, thank you