Ants are a kind of insect that lives together in large colonies. They are the family Formicidae. Ants are a lot like bees and wasps. They all came from the same kind of animal a long time ago, but now they are different. There are about 22,000 different kinds of ants, but we have only documented 12,500. Every kind of ant has a thin middle, called a thorax, and two long rods on their heads called antennae. Ants live in groups that can be big or small.