Comment Re:Bad ant strategy? (Score 1) 250
The thing is, a single worker ant in a colony means little to the colony as a whole. Only by group activity do ants accomplish anything. They're a super-organism, made up of individuals, but the whole colony can be considered a single creature.
If 1, 20, or even 1000 ants die in a colony that has up to 500,000 ore more individuals in it... the whole does not mind. Most electronics put off heat, and heat is what ants need to raise their young. Higher heat, within limits, mean the ants can develop their brood faster, since insects "live" at a higher metabolism when they are warmer.
In some species of insect, different temperatures and conditions can breed different castes, as well. In ants, heat and diet determine if the larvae develops into a fertile female, or merely a neuter, working female. Males are developed through diet and through eggs that are inseminated. Females are unfertilized eggs, usually.
So, this is why you find tons of ants and their brood under rocks or paving stones. They're using the stones to create solarium.
Ants are amazing.