# If ants get re-located several miles from their original home base location will they die?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 20, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580 "2009-07-20T01:48:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/1 "2009-07-20T01:48:24Z")
I’ve had a problem with medium sized black ants in my mailbox for as long as I can remember. I picked up a package from my home mailbox and took it to work this afternoon. It was an MP3 player car power adapter so I opened it in the car when I got to work and I noticed a bunch of ants had infiltrated the inside of the box, and I tossed it out of the car onto the parking lot. I got out and retrieved the merchandise and saw the ants climbing out of the box and onto the pavement and heading for the nearby grass.
Will they be able to rejoin another nest or will they die so far from their home?
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### Author:  [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/2 "2009-07-20T01:56:07Z")
The workers are generally pretty disposable, and they use scent trails to find their way around, which the car prolly didn’t lay down for them.
That said I remember reading something about a certain species of ant that tends to play nice with others of it’s species due to smelling the same, so they might have found a new home.
This post is all just WAGs though.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/3 "2009-07-20T03:20:55Z")
The ants will die pretty soon. It is unlikely that a nest of even their own species will allow them in, since their scent will be different, and may just kill them if they try. They will wander around for a while until they are eaten by a predator or die. It is much too far for them to find their way home.
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### Author:  [@ajb867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajb867)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/4 "2009-07-20T09:29:09Z")
Murderer!
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### Author:  [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/5 "2009-07-20T13:28:07Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#):
>
> That said I remember reading something about a certain species of ant that tends to play nice with others of it’s species due to smelling the same, so they might have found a new home.
Maybe this is what you read?
> **[BBC - Earth News - Ant mega-colony takes over world](http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm)**
>
> Argentine ants living on three continents belong to the same colony, the largest of its kind ever known.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/6 "2009-07-20T16:01:45Z")
How long do worker ants typically live?
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/7 "2009-07-20T16:31:32Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> How long do worker ants typically live?
“The lifespan of a worker is only one year, but a queen can live 20 years” according to [this](http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/may7/antchat-57.html).
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### Author:  [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/8 "2009-07-21T02:52:54Z")
> [@Henrichek](#):
>
> Maybe this is what you read?
> [BBC - Earth News - Ant mega-colony takes over world](http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm)
That was exactly it, same url even!
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ants-get-re-located-several-miles-from-their-original-home-base-location-will-they-die/503580/9 "2009-07-21T03:46:21Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> “The lifespan of a worker is only one year, but a queen can live 20 years” according to [this](http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/may7/antchat-57.html).
It depends on the species. It can range from a few months to several years.