Supporting us
The ant appeal has now reached its target thanks to our Val-ant-ine's promotion! You may have heard about our ants, pictured carrying rose petals on St Valentine's Day, who were featured on BBC News Northwest. Or perhaps you received one of our range of rom-ant-ic ecards? You can spot the ant names suggested over Valentine's Day by the little red hearts on the ant names at the bottom of the page. The appeal will be running until the works on the new enclosure starts so you can still surprise a friend or family member with an ant appeal gift, donate online now.
Photograph © Liverpool Daily Post & Echo
Leaf cutter ants are amazing; they grow their own food, a fungus, using the leaves they cut from trees as compost. There are different castes of ant within the colony; soldier, worker, Queen and drones. Each caste has a different job to do and you can visit World Museum to watch them working. Find out more in our leaf cutter ant feature
The leaf cutter ants moved to their enclosure in the Bug House at World Museum Liverpool in April 2005. They were quiet at first but in August that year our ants made the news when they walked the tightrope high above the gallery to bring leaves back to their nest. Now our ants are doing so well that the colony is growing too big and we need to extend their home in the Bug House to fit them all in!
If you'd like to help build a bigger home for the ants at World Museum and support our work you might like to become an Ant Appeal supporter! All we ask is that you make a minimum donation of £5 to the Ant Appeal. When you become an Ant Appeal supporter you will:
You can join the Ant Appeal on our website today. It's convenient, fast and secure,
donate online now. Of course if you prefer to donate by post, please print and complete
the form and send with your cheque, made payable to National Museums Liverpool to:
Ant Appeal, Development Office, National Conservation Centre, Whitechapel, L1 6HZ.
Supporters of the Ant Appeal have suggested the following names for the ants in our leaf cutter colony. These names will be displayed next to the new enclosure when it opens:
Local schools are supporting our ants too, here are their suggested names...
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