How do Ants stack their hills?

One grain at a time.

Willy-nilly.

I don’t know the entire answer, but I’m certain that ground moisture has a lot to do with how ants construct their nests. We all know that moisture makes things sticky. Considering the size of their tunnels, I’m guessing that there is enough humidity in even dry soil for an ant colony to build a nest.

Here’s an awesome site that’s dedicated to the study of ants. antark.net I made a cursory look through it, and didn’t find the answer to your question, however here is their email. Ask them and get back to us with the answer! pheromone@antark.net

@snowberry ok, email sent

They carry one grain at a time with their mouths. Have you never had an ant farm? If not I recommend you get one. It’s fun to watch the ants. Yes, even for grownups. :)

@MollyMcGuire So if I drag and drop a billion little grains of dirt they’ll make a neat little hill

@Ltryptophan Try it and let us know. :)

Even more amazing is the architecture of the complexes of rooms and tunnels they build below the surface, somehow cooperating, and how they can repair it when it’s damaged. They seem to have a group mind going on that somehow comprehends the structure and how to coordinate thousands of ants to build and maintain them.

See page one of this article, which has a nice picture.

This one is amazingly large

Scientists do not know how this is even possible, especially without some sort of collective intelligence/consciousness involved. It’s one of several topics where one can make people who are very closed-minded about only physical mechanical explanations uncomfortable and defensive.

Oh, I should add that the ant hive is even more impressive and interesting when it’s observed that if you destroy part of the hive, they will rebuild it the same as it was – it’s not just a random hall & room construction.