What animals eat ants?
The examples below show several different feeding strategies. They are documented examples, not an exhaustive list, and the geographic column describes a region or study context rather than each animal’s complete range. Harvard Forest: ant food webs
Scroll sideways to see all columns.
| Predator | Region or documented context | What it eats and how | How important are ants? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern flicker, Colaptes auratus | North America; open woodland, parks and suburbs | Collects ants on the ground and probes the soil for larvae | Ants and beetles are prominent foods; other insects, fruit and seeds also feature. Cornell Lab |
| Green woodpecker, Picus viridis | Britain, within its range; lawns and short grass | Probes ant nests for adults and larvae | Ants dominate its diet. British Trust for Ornithology |
| Barn swallow, Hirundo rustica | North American account; aerial feeding | Catches ants among flying insect prey | A general insect eater; flies form the largest component in this account. Cornell Lab |
| Giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla | Central and South America | Opens ant and termite nests and gathers insects with its sticky tongue | Specializes on ants and termites. Smithsonian |
| Thorny devil, Moloch horridus | Australian desert example | Collects ants beside trails with its tongue | An ant specialist. Parks Australia |
| Pit-building antlion larvae, Myrmeleon species | Florida example; sheltered, dry sandy sites | Trap passing ants and other small arthropods | Ants are one prey type. Not all antlions build pits. UF/IFAS |
| Ant-eating spider, Zodarion jozefienae | Field study in southern Portugal | Hunts Messor barbarus workers | A specialist example; this does not describe all spiders. Field research |
“Eats ants” therefore covers very different diets. A swallow catching an ant among other flying insects and a thorny devil feeding beside an ant trail are both ant predators, but their dependence on ants differs.
A closer look
A bird that searches the ground for ants
AI-generated illustration inspired by a northern flicker foraging on the ground. Northern flickers eat ants, but this scene is not a photograph or a record of an observed feeding event.
What eats ants in the garden?
If you are wondering what will eat ants around your home, start with animals that occur locally. Famous ant-eating mammals are useful global examples, but they tell you little about the visitors to a particular lawn.
In the United States, northern flickers are one example to watch for in suitable habitat. Unlike the familiar image of a woodpecker working on a tree trunk, flickers often forage on the ground. Their diet includes ants collected at the surface and larvae reached by probing the soil. Cornell Lab
Dry, sheltered sand can support another kind of hunter. UF/IFAS describes antlion pits beneath overhangs and around raised foundations in Florida. The larva waits below the surface, seizes prey that falls in and can flick sand at an escaping insect. That makes habitat important: a damp lawn and a sheltered patch of loose sand offer different opportunities. UF/IFAS
In the United Kingdom, green woodpeckers may visit lawns within their British range. They search short grass and probe nests, including those of yellow meadow ants. They are not a visitor you can expect throughout the UK, and even suitable gardens will not necessarily attract one. British Trust for Ornithology
These examples explain feeding behavior, not a reliable pest-control method. Seeing a bird or insect take ants does not show that it will remove the colony. Keep wildlife observation separate from deciding how to address an indoor ant problem.
Do predators eat workers, flying ants or brood?
An ant colony offers several kinds of potential prey. The predator’s feeding method determines which it can reach.
Workers outside the nest are exposed while moving over the ground or visiting food sources. The Portuguese spider study provides a specific example: Zodarion jozefienae hunts workers of the harvester ant Messor barbarus. A spider beside an ant trail, however, is not automatically evidence of the same relationship. Field research
Brood inside the nest includes eggs, larvae and pupae. A predator must gain access to them, and the evidence should identify which stages it takes. For green woodpeckers, the BTO documents feeding on adult ants and larvae; that account does not justify adding every brood stage to their menu. British Trust for Ornithology
Winged reproductives become available to aerial hunters when they leave the nest. Barn swallows catch ants among their flying insect prey. Our nuptial-flight guide explains why young queens and males emerge and why flight timing varies. Cornell Lab
A closer look
Three feeding opportunities
Examples of how different ant life stages become available to predators. Conceptual and not to scale; these scenes do not represent one shared habitat.
Do ants eat other ants?
Yes. Some ants prey on other ant species, including their developing young.
The clonal raider ant, Ooceraea biroi, is a documented specialist predator of other ants’ brood, although it can also attack other soft-bodied insects. This provides a specific example of ants serving as both predator and prey. It does not mean every encounter between colonies involves feeding. Doryline research
Fighting, carrying and eating are different observations. Workers may transport brood, move living nestmates or remove corpses. An ant carrying another ant is therefore not enough to establish predation. Our guide to why ants carry dead ants explains those distinctions.
How do ants defend themselves?
Ant defenses differ between species. Some use venomous stings; others rely on biting or defensive secretions. Red imported fire ants, for example, use their sting to defend themselves and their colony. Natural History Museum
Chemical alarm signals can also coordinate a response by nearby nestmates. Research describes how alarm communication and defensive chemicals work together in some ants, including formic-acid spraying in formicine ants. These mechanisms should not be treated as a toolkit shared by every species. Review of insect chemical defenses
A predator also has to reach its meal. Taking an isolated worker is a different task from entering a defended nest. Strong claws, probing bills, traps and specialized hunting behavior offer different ways of overcoming that obstacle. No single feeding strategy works against every ant colony.
Ants are also predators—and how to observe the difference
Ants occupy both sides of a food web. They consume other animals and, in turn, provide food for other arthropods, amphibians, birds and mammals. Watching who captures whom is more informative than simply noting that two animals are close together. Harvard Forest
For a useful observation:
- Identify predator and prey separately. Leave either unidentified if the photograph is insufficient.
- Distinguish capture, carrying and feeding. They are not interchangeable evidence.
- Record place, date and ant life stage. Note whether you saw a worker, winged reproductive or brood.
- Watch without staging the encounter. Do not open nests, expose brood or move ants into a predator’s path.
A closer look
Ants on the other side of the food web
Ants surround another insect on a leaf. This contextual photograph illustrates ants’ place on the other side of the food web; it does not show an animal eating ants or establish the species involved.
Photo: tarasari / stock.adobe.comFurther reading
Sources and review notes
EveryAnt prioritizes peer-reviewed, university, museum and government sources. Internal source checks do not replace independent specialist review.
- Ant Food WebHarvard Forest, Harvard University · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Northern Flicker — Life HistoryCornell Lab of Ornithology · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Green Woodpecker — Bird Table featureBritish Trust for Ornithology · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Barn Swallow — Life HistoryCornell Lab of Ornithology · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Giant anteaterSmithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Thorny devilParks Australia · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Antlions in the ClassroomUF/IFAS · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Intersexual Trophic Niche Partitioning in an Ant-Eating Spider (Araneae: Zodariidae)PLOS ONE (2010) · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Generic revision of the ant subfamily Dorylinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)Marek L. Borowiec, ZooKeys (2016) · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Invasive red fire ants found in Europe for the first timeNatural History Museum · Accessed 2026-10-15
- Olfactory Strategies in the Defensive Behaviour of InsectsKannan and colleagues, Insects (2022) · Accessed 2026-10-15