An ant's worst enemy includes a combination of natural predators, rival ant colonies, and human pest control methods that target colonies, with the most significant natural enemies being other ants and specialized predators like anteaters. Among natural predators, anteaters, aardvarks, and pangolins are famous for consuming thousands of ants daily using long sticky tongues to raid nests, while birds, lizards, spiders, beetles, and assassin bugs also prey on ants. However, the most intense and frequent enemies are other ant colonies, as different ant species including army ants, fire ants, Argentine ants, and carpenter ants regularly raid neighboring colonies, kill workers, and steal larvae and pupae, with territorial battles causing thousands of deaths. Specialized parasitoids like phorid flies lay eggs inside ants with larvae consuming the ant from inside and are used as biological control for fire ants. Fungi like Ophiocordyceps, known as zombie-ant fungus, infect ants, manipulate behavior to climb high, then kill them and release spores to infect others. Nematodes and parasitic wasps also attack ants. For human homes, ants' worst enemies are integrated pest management tactics including sanitation that removes food by storing sealed, sealing entry points with caulk that blocks access, moisture control that destroys carpenter ant nests in damp wood, and slow-acting gel baits containing fipronil or borax such as Terro that workers carry back to kill queen and entire colony within days, which is more effective than repellent sprays that cause budding.
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