# Ants relocating
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-relocating/77500
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 22, 2001, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-relocating/77500 "2001-08-22T06:01:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Major\_Feelgud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Feelgud)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2001, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-relocating/77500/1 "2001-08-22T06:01:22Z")
I’ve noticed a lot of ants on my porch and they’re climbing over everything. I leave out parcels for UPS to pick up all the time. If some of these ants (worker ants I presume) climb into the package and are shipped to say Ohio, will they merely starve to death there or will they be able to do some sex change operation, become a queen ant and start a new colony there?
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-relocating/77500/2 "2001-08-22T06:11:22Z")
Nope. Although I’m at work and don’t have Wilson’s book here to confirm, to the best of my knowledge ant workers ( at least with the vast majority of species ) are unreversibly sterile. But no doubt **Colibri** will come along any minute and correct me 😉 .
On the other hand it is possible that you could have a package sitting out when a colony starts swarming and end up with an impregnated queen or three hitching a ride. But I suspect that is not terribly likely since most species ( in the U.S. at least ) seem to swarm in the late afternoon or later.
- Tamerlane
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-relocating/77500/3 "2001-08-23T06:47:59Z")
Now some do-gooder will come along and try to start a home for wayward ants.
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### Author:  [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-relocating/77500/4 "2001-08-23T09:13:35Z")
I’ll second the “nope”. The only fertile ants are those ones you see flying up off the nest in the summer (or spring depending on species). These are specially made, and about their only purpose in life is to get it on in the air, then the guys die and the girls land, drop their wings, and start digging (to summize it all briefly). I think if you can manage to kill the queen in an ant hill, the workers will carry on the daily grind, but with no new replacements, the colony will peter out fairly soon… they aren’t able to replace her.