Ant Hunters Kids

Kids Protocol for Schools/High schools

In summary, the sampling consists of attracting ants with sugar water and capturing them in the schoolyard. The samples are then preserved in ethanol and sent to the researchers. Here is a detailed explanation:

What do you need?

We will send you a kit with all the necessary materials to participate, including a mini instruction manual, tubes with water and sugar for the baits, tweezers, microtubes with pure ethanol to preserve the samples, and a pre-paid envelope to send us the collected samples.

Where to perform the sampling?

As a participant, you will place sugar water baits in a zone of your choice. It can be:
1. The courtyard/garden of your school/high school.
2. A nearby urban park (choose a less trafficked area by dogs or people that may interfere with the sampling).

Observe your surroundings and choose a zone where you see ants walking on the ground. Let us know if you have any doubts about choosing your sampling zone, we’ll be happy to help you.

Take a photo of your sampling area, this will help us characterize it. And don’t forget to take a selfie during the sampling if you want to appear on our website!

When to perform the sampling?

The sampling should be done on a sunny day with good temperature, between May and June of 2025. This ensures that the ants are active and that the results are representative. The sampling should be done avoiding the hottest hours of the day (avoid between 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM), as during this period many ant species may not be active due to the heat.

How to perform a sampling?

What is a bait in this project?

In this project, a bait consists of a tube filled with sugar water. It is designed to attract ants, the sweetness of the sugar encourages them to approach and feed, allowing for observation and collection of samples from the different species. NOTE: Do not open the bait tube too early, as it contains a sterile sugar water solution and could become contaminated.

  1. Collecting the baits: One hour after placing them, you will collect the baits by closing the tubes with their caps. The ants must be introduced into the microtubes with ethanol within one hour following the collection of the baits. Use the tweezers we sent you to pick up between 1 and 6 worker ants of each type present per bait (ideally 6 workers of each type if available), keeping all the ants from the same bait in a single microtube with ethanol. Use the tweezers gently to avoid damaging the ants; if the ants are damaged, we will not be able to use them in the study. NOTE 1: You can look at the size, color, and shape to distinguish between different ant species. NOTE 2: To make it easier to collect ants, you can cool the tubes in the freezer or in a portable cooler with ice for 20 minutes. NOTE 3: In the case of small ants, wetting the tweezers with alcohol makes them tend to adhere to the surface and easier to introduce into the microtubes. For larger ants, you can try to grasp them by a leg to avoid damaging them.

  1. Storage and shipping: Once collected the ants, the microtubes containing the samples should be stored in the refrigerator until they are shipped. Use the pre-paid envelope included with the sampling materials and send them within one week of collection.

    Send us a photo of your sampling zone so that we can characterize it, and if you want, also send us a selfie through the contact email anthuntersproject@gmail.com so we can include your photo as a participant on the project’s website.

Now you’ve learned a scientific methodology to sample ants!