Chimera Ants

Chimera Ants (キメラアント, Kimera Anto) are extremely dangerous insects designated quarantine level one. Also known as "Gourmet Ants" due to carefully selecting their food, they have voracious appetites and can consume several times their own weight within a single day. It is not uncommon for Chimera Ants to devour their preferred fodder species to extinction. In general, not even Chimera Ant Queens become bigger than 10 centimeters, but gigantic Chimera Ant Queens (over 2 meters tall) can be found in the Dark Continent.

Biology
Chimera Ant Queens possess an entirely unique method of reproduction known as Phagogenesis (摂食交配, Sesshoku Kōhai), a term meaning reproduction through devouring. By eating other creatures, a Chimera Ant Queen can impart the characteristics of ingested creatures onto the next generation of Chimera Ants it gives birth to. She can produce up to five ants with one meal. To take advantage of the genes of a particular species, Chimera Ants have been known to feed until the fodder species is driven to extinction in its ecosystem. Humans are known to be extremely nutritious fodder for Chimera Ant Queens. Each generation of Chimera Ants is profoundly different from the one that preceded it, and even individual ants from the same generation exhibit profound genetic differences,  which are expressed by their unique appearance: a fodder species/ant hybrid, the former component depending on the Queen's diet. Genes from multiple species can be mixed in the same ant. Regardless of their non-insect genes, many of them retain insectoid joints.



Thanks to the unique method of reproduction of the species, Chimera Ant soldiers often inherit advantageous traits of the fodder species the Queen fed on. Should the prey in question be humans, the resulting ants will be more intelligent than ones born from wild animals to different extents, stronger, have the ability to talk and operate machinery such as firearms, and even the potential to use Nen. Conversely, some of the more primitive ones are capable of feeling aura without seeing it, possibly due to their superior affinity with nature. Higher-ranked soldier ants are born with the ability to see aura.

Much like snakes, Chimera Ants are capable of survive decapitation for a whole day until they die, which requires Hunters to destroy their head to kill them right on spot. However, this is not always the case for those born with human genes, including the Queen herself, who died as a result of having several organs destroyed by her son. Like all other living beings, they need to breath, although the manner in which they do so varies with their genes.

It is unknown how ordinary Chimera Ants communicate. The Queen who drifted from the Dark Continent to the human world could issue orders telepathically, possibly with the aid of specific sound signals. Despite her high level of intelligence, however, the fodder species she feeds on affects the mental and communication abilities of her offspring, to the point that some of them may be unable to express complex concepts that an Ant with human intelligence would ordinarily be able to understand. Some soldier Ants born with human genes acquired the ability to speak while also retaining their telepathy, whereas Royal Guards (and, presumably, Kings) lack the ability altogether and can resort exclusively to verbal communication.

Chimera Ants, or at least the ones born with human genes, have the potential to recollect events that occurred to the individuals whose genetic material they ended up inheriting, to the point some of them consider themselves as being the exact same person reborn. These memories are the reason some of them were able to talk right after being born. The personality of the fodder human can affect a Chimera Ant to varying degrees, and many remember their former names. In some cases, Chimera Ants can recall everything about their past life, while in others the memories are only subconscious. Koala believes that this is made possible by the human soul surviving through the process of Phagogenesis.

Hierarchy and Behavior


In every nest, one Queen Chimera Ant exists to produce more Ants in order to ensure the success of the species. A Chimera Ant colony is organized into a military-like chain of command. At the top of the hierarchy is the Queen, who hunts on her own and remains on the move until she has found a suitable place to nest. While she searches, she continuously gives birth to soldier ants in order to consume bigger, more abundant prey so she can spawn even stronger drones and become pregnant with a King without the fear of predators. Once she has found a suitable site, she produces a horde of construction ants to build a fortress in which she remains until her death. While she is pregnant with the King, her appetite increases. Soldier ants are reorganized in ranks based on their strength: at the top is a handful of Squadron Leaders, followed by Officers who in turn have authority over Peons and Drudges. Then, she gives birth to a small number of even more powerful soldiers, the Royal Guards, ranked between the Squadron Leaders and herself. When a King is born, the Royal Guards are assigned to him and leave the nest with him as he mates with females from various species and impregnates the next Queen. Then, the Queen gives birth to new Royal Guards and Kings, while Squadron Leaders and lower-ranked ants remain in her service until she dies. After her demise, her underlings, starting from the Squadron Leaders, then spreading to the Officers as the chain of command breaks, become copycat Kings and leave the nest to spread their own seed.

The later generation of Ants produced possess a great degree of individuality, as a result of the Queen's mostly human diet (shown when the Ants request permission from the Queen to give themselves names). Several of these Ants also possess memories from the lives of the humans eaten by the Queen, in the form of personality or knowledge of language and other subjects. Having a strong will as a human being makes it more likely for one to be reborn as an Ant.

Despite being hostile, they are not evil initially. Due to consuming humans with evil nature, their hostility turn into pure evil, as stated by Kite after witnessing Yunju mercilessly killed Spot and Rover, despite the latter pleading for mercy. Similarly, if the Chimera Ant Queen consumes an evil human devoid of any goodness, the negative traits will passed on to its Chimera Ant incarnation.

The Hunter Association and Ging Freecss classified the colony led by Meruem as a B level threat.

Development and Reproduction


A Chimera Ant life starts from an egg. When it hatches a Chimera Ant will emerge in full adult form ready to work for the Queen. The Queen is the center of reproducing. However, in an unexpected event that the Queen dies or loses its ability to reproduce, known reports states that male soldier ants will break from the colony and will try assume the role as a King Ant. Then they will try to forcibly mate with the females of other species to give birth to a new generation of ants. It is not known if female soldier ants can do the same and breed with males of other species, as the only known case that attempted to start her own colony was Zazan who preferred unconventional methods of reproducing soldiers by using her stinger on humans instead of egg-laying like the Queen Ant. The Selection is another unique phenomenon for reproducing soldiers that the Chimera ants gained after getting human intelligence and the knowledge of Nen.

Types of Chimera Ants

 * Condor: Colt
 * Alligator: Alligator
 * Penguin: Peggy
 * Turtle: Turtle
 * Cow: Bihorn
 * Panda: Panda
 * Cheetah: Cheetu
 * Frog: Frog
 * Lobster: Bloster
 * Scorpion: Zazan
 * Chameleon: Meleoron
 * Centaur: Yunju
 * Mosquito: Mosquito
 * Centipede: Centipede
 * Koala: Koala
 * Spider: Pike
 * Reptile: Gun-toting Ant
 * Lion: Leol
 * Rabbit: Hina
 * Dragonfly: Flutter
 * Armadillo: Baro
 * Rhino: Rhino
 * Pig: Pig
 * Cat: Neferpitou
 * Butterfly: Shaiapouf
 * Unknwon Magical Beast: Menthuthuyoupi
 * Wolf: Welfin
 * Beetle: Pell
 * Stag Beetle: Stag Beetle
 * Snake: Snake
 * Owl: Hollow
 * Bat: Bat
 * Bombardier Beetle: Bombardier Beetle Chimera Ant
 * Octopus: Ikalgo
 * Aquatic animal: Ortho Siblings
 * Sharksucker: Remora

Mixed Chimera Ants

 * Octopus/Squid: Chimera Ant Octopus
 * Rabbit/Bull-headed Shrike: Rammot
 * Gorilla/Crab: Gorilla

Chimera Ant arc
Kite destroys a Chimera Ant colony in Kakin.

An enormous injured Chimera Ant Queen is stranded on the shores of NGL. Initially feeding on bats, fishes, and crabs, she produces soldier ants. After feasting on two humans, she prioritizes humans as her food. She moves on to another lair deeper in NGL while her minions hunt enormous quantities of humans to satisfy his voracious appetite.

Following Meruem's birth, the majority of the Ants opt to abandon the Queen as they seek to establish their own kingdoms, though some capitulate to humanity. As they explore new lands, they come into conflict with various humans, including the Phantom Troupe, and the Hunter Association sends exterminators after them. Meruem and his Royal Guards settle in the Royal Palace of East Gorteau, usurping control of the country from Ming Jol-ik. Taking advantage of its authoritarian policies, they lure the civilian population in order to conduct a Selection process. Several former Squadron Leaders end up serving Meruem. However, the extermination squad sent to East Gorteau wipes out the hostile Ants, while the remaining Ants accept a peaceful co-existence with humanity.

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc
When he was talking to Cheadle Yorkshire, Ging Freecss explained that when Netero blew himself up, 100 Hunter organization airships headed to The Republic of East Gorteau without the knowing of the Zodiac and the majority of the Hunters in the association and Ging can only manage to gather this information due to his acquaintances with the pilots and mechanics in the Hunter Associations. Those Hunters picked up around 5,000 hybrid cocoons that the Chimera Ants have left behind. Every single cocoon can use Nen and they have probably all hatched by now. Pariston wants to play with them in a "big garden" or potentially setting the framework for the next Hunter Examination in which candidates will have to fight Chimera Ants who know how to use Nen to gain the Hunter License.

Dark Continent Expedition arc
Ging arrives in the lair of Beyond Netero's expedition team and confronts Pariston. Ging explains that the government will answer to Beyond's taunt and send them to the Dark Continent. He orders Pariston to send in 5,000 Chimera. He continues that he will start to "play directly". When Pariston sounds confident that Ging will join him, Ging answers that he wants to "play by himself."

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