In the average ant colony, two kinds of females exist: those who mate and those who don't. The non-mating females are all daughters of the queen. The non-mating females raise the babies, gather the food, maintain and expand the nest, and look after the queen, who does nothing but lay eggs continuously. Queen ants are born to be queens because of a special genetic combination between their parents. These ant princesses have wings, while the sterile female workers do not. Queen ants in some species are bigger than workers; in others you have to look for the difference by examining the thoraxes -- queens have bigger thoraxes with more parts as a result of having wings for part of their lives.