Pharaoh ant site. Pharaoh ant colonies appear to prefer familiar nests to novel nests while budding. This suggests the ability for colonies to remember certain qualities of their living space. However, if the novel (unfamiliar) nest is of superior quality, the colony may initially move toward the familiar, but will eventually select the unfamiliar. The colony assumes the familiar nest is preferable, unless they sense better qualities in the novel nest. This decision-making process seeks to minimize the time the colony is without a nest while optimizing the nest the colony finally chooses. The number of available budding locations has a large
Meat ant to gain access to water or where water has been spilt, either if the site is nearby their nest or far away. Despite their dominance among ants, a number of animals are known to prey on meat ants. The short-beaked echidna ("Tachyglossus aculeatus") is a prominent predator of the meat ant, mostly due to the high fat levels (up to 47%) in virgin queens. These queens can almost contain 47% fat, and when no queens are available after an attack, an echidna may stop attacking the nest. However, these ants are normally consumed either in low numbers or avoided entirely.