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Meet the Crazy Ant
Crazy relatives. There’s one in every family. I have several in mine.
Take Aunt Nee Nee, who brings my grandfather along to all our
family events. My grandfather died 15 years ago. His ashes reside
in a wooden box the size of two dictionaries stacked on top of
each other. At my wedding, she propped him in the choir loft, “so
he can see,” and had the photographer do a photo session with
him. Or Uncle George, who went missing for two weeks, and just
when everybody thought he was dead he came rolling into town
in a pink Cadillac with a live monkey strapped in the passenger
seat. Or Aunt Ann, who ... well, you get the picture.
Ants have a lot of crazy relatives, too. Most members of the
genus Nylanderia even get the common name “crazy ant.” Some
of them deserve it.
They even have crazy little hairdos. If you’re like me and you have
a special place in your heart for all things fuzzy, crazy ants are the
ants for you. Ranging in color from pale yellow to black and about
the size of a sesame
seed, crazy ants have
spiky hairs covering their
entire bodies that make
them look like baby birds
or old men’s heads.
Either way: a-dorable.
Urban Life
Where it lives: Nylanderia aren’t choosy about
where to nest and can nest under trees or in
your potted plants.
What it eats: Nuts for sugar, Nylanderia prefer
sweet syrups produced by aphids, but will
snack on human garbage or scavenge for
insects if they get the chance.
NYC notes: This is the ant the students of
Columbia College found in the Frontiers of
Science project thanks to the leadership of
James Danoff-Burg. It is everywhere (in 28 of
48 places sampled so far in New York City)
and may well have been for decades,
ubiquitous but unnoticed. We know little about
this ant. If I were a teacher in New York City, I’d
collect some colonies. I’d watch them, learn
their ways. Discoveries await.
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