In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Bullet Ant in 9 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.
The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.
Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.
At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Bullet Ant.
Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.
How to Draw a Bullet Ant - Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1: For the head of the Bullet Ant, draw a rounded square shape with a curved side on the end.
Step 2: Next, draw the antennae like two 'L' shapes. Use small circles for the middle part. These antennae are sensors to help the Bullet Ant "see".
Step 3: Draw two small circles at the ends of the head for eyes.
Step 4: For the mouth, draw two half circles just under the antennae. Their jaws are very strong.
Step 5: Next, draw the middle part of the body like a small rectangle with a pointed end. Bullet Ants are the second largest in the world, they can reach up to 2.5 cms in length!
Step 6: For the Thorax, which is the back of the body, draw three circles with an open space in the middle. Add a small line at the very back for the tail. This is a stinger that creates a very painful sting and injects venom.
Step 7: Now, draw the legs by making three thin rectangular lines. Add some rough shapes to the ends for feet.
Step 8: Next, add the three legs on the other side of the body.
Step 9: Lastly, add some small lines for hairs all over the outer edge of the body. You can use dark brown or black to color the Bullet Ant.
Interesting Facts about Bullet Ants
This large ant is the second largest in the world. The Bullet Ant lives in Nicaragua and all the way down the Amazon River. They are a hunter ant that looks for insects to eat and tree sap. The ant can reach 2.5 centimeters long. They live in the ground around the base of trees. The ant is red and looks a lot like a wasp without wings. The most talked about feature of these ants is not their size, but their painful sting. They sting intruders to protect themselves and the colony (a group of ants.)
Did you know?
- Also known as “the 24-hour ant” by locals in the area. Because the Bullet Ant’s sting is very painful and the pain can last all day.
- Bullet Ants don’t swarm like other ants. They hunt alone and the queen ant is not much bigger than a worker ant.
- The Santere-Mawe tribe of South America use Bullet Ants to find warriors. Young men in the tribe place their hand in a big leaf ant filled glove. If the man can keep the glove on for 10 minutes he becomes a warrior in the tribe.
- Although the sting does hurt, and it does cause some parallelization for a while, it does not make the victim sick or die.
- There is small fly in the Amazon that likes to use sick Bullet Ants as a place to lay their eggs. A healthy ant can fight the fly off, but a sick or injured ant quickly eaten or filled with eggs for the larvae to eat them when they hatch.
Activity: This classic after school snack is perfect after a day of learning about snacks. “Ants on Log” are celery stalks filled with peanut butter and dotted with raisins. It is a cute theme snack and super healthy.
How to Draw a Bullet Ant – Step-By-Step Tutorial