Ants adhere to a strict class system, and at the top is the queen. She's born with wings and referred to as a princess until she takes part in the nuptial flight, mates with a male ant, and flies off to start her own colony. Depending on her species, a queen can lay hundreds up to a thousand eggs a day. If a queen were to die, there would be no one to replace her (female worker ants cannot reproduce) and the colony will eventually die out.