Ant Minibeast Adventure with Jess

Hello, adventurers! I'm Jess.

It's time for a Minibeast Adventure!

# Feelers out, what's about?

# Creeping, sleeping, under stones, here and there

# Nesting, resting Minibeasts are everywhere

# Minibeasts are everywhere Look and listen, stop and stare

# Minibeasts are everywhere A Minibeast Adventure

# Feelers out, what's about?

# Minibeasts are everywhere Look and listen, stop and stare

# Miniworlds for us to share A Minibeast Adventure

# With Jess! #

Welcome to my tree house. Come and look at this.

This is my ant farm.

Ants are amazing creatures.

Lots of insects live by themselves

and have to find their food all on their own,

but ants live with lots of other ants in groups called colonies.

Colonies live deep underground, where it's dark, in nests.

So, I keep the back of my ants covered up.

Shall we see what they're up to?

Wow, look at them all. They look busy.

That big ant is the queen.

Every nest has just one queen,

and it's her job to lay eggs and bring up the baby ants.

All the other ants here are worker ants.

They all have different jobs to do.

Those white sausage-shaped things are going to hatch into ants

and the worker ants are looking after them.

And look! Can you see that little white ant?

That's a baby that's just hatched,

but as it grows, it will get darker and look just like the other ants.

Ants are some of the most successful creatures on earth.

My colony has about 100 ants,

but ant colonies can have many thousands of ants.

It shouldn't be too difficult

to find an ant where you live. Shall we go and find some?

Come on!

Whatever the weather, we're off together on a Minibeast Adventure!

-Hi, Elizabeth. Hi, Samara.

-BOTH: Hi, Jess!

Great to meet you.

Today, we're going on an ant adventure.

Have you ever seen an ant before?

-BOTH: Yeah.

-What are they like?

-Brown.

-Where do you think we might find some?

BOTH: Everywhere!

Everywhere? Well, come on, then.

Get your feelers ready.

ALL: Feelers out, what's about?

We're off on a Minibeast Adventure.

You were right, they are everywhere!

What about here?

-Yeah!

-Yes.

We found two ants.

I bet there's more, because where there's one,

there's always lots, because ants live in ant hills.

-Do you think we could find one of those?

-BOTH: Yeah.

Shall we try?

Yeah. We need to look everywhere and stop anywhere we like.

Yes, absolutely.

A bug went in here.

Where are they going?

I don't know.

Follow it.

Follow it, yeah.

JESS GASPS

-I can see loads of bugs on this!

-Wow.

-There's loads of ants, aren't there?

-All over it.

-Do you think this might be the ant hill?

-BOTH: Yeah.

-Yes, it is.

-This is the ant hill.

-They're quite small.

And they need to go in tiny holes.

-Do you know how we can see things that are really small better?

-Yeah.

-How?

-A magnifying glass.

-A magnifying glass, would you like one as well, Samara?

-Yeah.

We can look at the ants really closely through those.

They're running fast.

Hey, I can see them now.

They look like a crocodile.

Like green, with big teeth?

No. There's one on your magnifying glass.

There's loads on your hands.

They're crawling all over you.

Because they have tiny legs.

That's a lot of ants, isn't it?

Yeah, I can see without them. They're playing.

They're playing? What do you think they're playing?

-Run.

-Run. Chasing.

Do they eat fruit?

-They do eat fruit, they love fruit and they love sweet things.

-Yeah.

How many ants do you think live in this ant hill?

-100!

-100?

How many do you think?

-145.

-145? I think...

152.

-154.

-Wow.

-152.

I think it might be even more than that.

Inside ant hills, there can be thousands and thousands of ants.

-Can you believe that?

-Yeah.

I can see every one of them.

If you eat the right food, will it make you into a queen?

No, of course it won't.

But if a baby ant is fed the right food,

it'll turn into a queen ant.

Now, I'm going to show you how to make your own ant farm,

so you can see what's going on inside that ant hill.

Firstly, you need a clear plastic pot, like this one.

-You fill it with sand. Can you girls help me with that?

-Yeah.

Here you go, Samara.

So, we put some sand in here...

-Very good, that looks great. Can you put some leaves in?

-Yeah.

-Look what I've got.

-Oh, go on, put that one in.

Very nice.

And shall we give them a bit of water to drink?

BOTH: Yeah.

There we go. Now, we need to get some ants.

-One more leaf!

-Go on, then.

So, the ant hill is just there.

Get this leaf and try and see if you can get an ant on there,

and you get one on that one, Elizabeth.

-I didn't get one.

-You didn't get one? You have to be quite patient.

Look, there's one on this!

Well done, Samara, that's excellent.

And we drop it in, there's our first ant.

Look, it's climbing on me.

Shall we see if we can get some of these ones in?

Blow on my hand.

Blow, Samara.

There we go, we've got lots in there now. Excellent.

-Do you think they like their home?

-Yeah.

-Shall we give them some food?

-Yeah.

-As a special treat, I've got a...

-ALL: Raspberry.

-Do you want to put it in?

-Yeah.

Ah, one's on the raspberry.

Well, now we can put the lid on.

It's got some holes in so they can breathe.

And soon, they should make some tunnels,

like they do in that ant hill.

But after a few days we'll let them go again,

to go back with their friends.

So, we won't keep them in here for very long.

For years?

No, for a few days.

We were so lucky to find that ant hill, weren't we?

I wonder how many ants there were, busily working inside.

My ants are still busy working here, collecting food for the queen.

Maybe you could go on an ant adventure.

There's sure to be some ants living near you.

Maybe you could even follow the ants to find the nest.

But of course, if you do, you must remember,

don't disturb it.

Feelers out, what's about?

Happy hunting, adventurers!