# Ants at the top of the Empire State Building **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294 "2016-04-15T18:02:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/1 "2016-04-15T18:02:14Z")
There are ants at the top of the Empire State Building. How did they get there? Did they gradually climb up and, after many generations, reach the top? Did they get there on people’s shoes? In potted plants? Were they windblown? Or are they descended from original ants brought up by construction workers? And are there ants at the top of other skyscrapers? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/2 "2016-04-15T18:40:57Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There are ants at the top of the Empire State Building. How did they get there? Did they gradually climb up and, after many generations, reach the top? Did they get there on people’s shoes? In potted plants? Were they windblown? Or are they descended from original ants brought up by construction workers? > > And are there ants at the top of other skyscrapers? How do you know about these ants? Have you seen them? Just curious. This sounds like a question asked by someone who has recently visited the site. This site: [https://www.quora.com/Do-skyscrapers-60+-floors-get-ants-in-their-upper-floors](https://www.quora.com/Do-skyscrapers-60+-floors-get-ants-in-their-upper-floors) quotes a “Public Health Entomologist”, who says that ants may be carried up there by people or the winds, or even climb up there. I observe that it’s unlikely the ants, however, they got there, will climb back _down_. Ants without their colonies will die in days, and to get a colony up there you’d need a queen, a lot of space, and a steady food supply. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/3 "2016-04-15T18:49:48Z")
Queens fly during their nuptial flight, which serves to distribute daughter colonies at a reasonable distance from the parent colony. A little updraft and voila! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/4 "2016-04-15T18:53:56Z")
Are they army ants? Then everyone in the building is in danger! ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/5 "2016-04-15T18:59:41Z")
You realize of course, from the ant’s point of view, they’re the ones with a massive people infestation. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/6 "2016-04-15T19:56:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > How do you know about these ants? Have you seen them? Just curious. This sounds like a question asked by someone who has recently visited the site. I’ve seen them during the past 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/7 "2016-04-15T20:12:28Z")
It’s not clear if you refer to a resident population or a nest that gets established and dies a few months later since we don’t know when the ants were observed or how many times. It’s possible there could be a small ant nest tucked into a sheltered space up there and enough food blown in or dropped by people to sustain an ant colony; there’s plenty of these in residential basements. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/8 "2016-04-15T20:43:40Z")
[Charles Addams](http://s176.photobucket.com/user/runnerpat/media/ChasAddams%20Ants_zpsccfa3d8m.jpg.html) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/9 "2016-04-15T21:19:31Z")
Likely someone dropped a box of doughnuts up there. Because that’s how you get ants. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/10 "2016-04-15T21:29:22Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Queens fly during their nuptial flight, which serves to distribute daughter colonies at a reasonable distance from the parent colony. A little updraft and voila! Right. Ants can establish colonies almost anywhere. The colony was certainly established by a fertilized female flying in search of a place to found a new colony. Small insects can easily be blown to great heights by updrafts. The colony itself is no doubt in cracks in the building. Dropped crumbs from visitor’s snacks will supple plenty of food, but they also may find dead insects that also were blown up there. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/11 "2016-04-15T21:50:17Z")
There were also bees at the top of the ESB when I visited in 2015. Could there be a hive up there? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/12 "2016-04-15T22:13:27Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > There were also bees at the top of the ESB when I visited in 2015. Could there be a hive up there? I doubt it. It’s much more likely they are just foragers flying up from a hive maintained by an [urban beekeeper.](http://www.amny.com/lifestyle/nyc-beekeeping-is-booming-with-261-hives-1.9269589) There’s a hive within 8 blocks at the Westin Grand Central. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/13 "2016-04-16T02:11:46Z")
Carried in potted plants is one good way. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/14 "2016-04-16T02:36:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Right. Ants can establish colonies almost anywhere. The colony was certainly established by a fertilized female flying in search of a place to found a new colony. Small insects can easily be blown to great heights by updrafts. The colony itself is no doubt in cracks in the building. Dropped crumbs from visitor’s snacks will supple plenty of food, but they also may find dead insects that also were blown up there. Fight my ignorance. So one fertilized queen is all that is required to start a colony? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/15 "2016-04-16T02:55:33Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > You realize of course, from the ant’s point of view, they’re the ones with a massive people infestation. From their point of view, they’re in a _really_ tall ant hill. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/16 "2016-04-16T03:04:04Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Fight my ignorance. So one fertilized queen is all that is required to start a colony? Yes. She will lay eggs that will hatch into workers that will be the foundation of the colony. The first workers will go out and forage for food, and care for the next cohort of larvae that will become the next group of workers. The queen will lay many thousands of eggs during her life to produce the colony’s workers. The workers, which are all female, are produced from eggs fertilized by the sperm that the queen obtained on her nuptial flight by mating with one or more probably several males. She will retain the sperm from that initial mating for her entire life, which may be decades. The colony reproduces by producing new winged males and females. Queens are produced by feeding larvae a special diet. Males are produced from unfertilized eggs. The winged males and females will take off on a nuptial flight during which mating takes place. A fertilized queen will land, shed her wings, make a nest, lay some eggs, and thus start a new colony. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/17 "2016-04-16T03:27:37Z")
After she has been inseminated during the nuptial flight, the queen will break off her wings using her legs. The muscles of the now defunct wings are metabolized and converted into eggs and food for the first batch of larvae. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/18 "2016-04-16T04:14:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Carried in potted plants is one good way. Carried, or carrying? Perhaps the observation deck installed a rubber tree plant. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/19 "2016-04-16T04:19:26Z")
Now I’m wondering whether there are ants atop the Burj Khalifa. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294/20 "2016-04-16T05:00:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Now I’m wondering whether there are ants atop the Burj Khalifa. There are ants everywhere. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-at-the-top-of-the-empire-state-building/752294.md?page=2)