The social behavior of ants, which exhibit a predominately female society made up of three castes, is one of the most complex of the insects. At the heart of each ant colony is the queen, a winged, fertile female responsible for laying all of the eggs. Infertile females, called workers, gather food, protect the nest and queen, and tend to the larvae and pupae. Males generally have wings and are hatched along with new queens for the sole purpose of fertilizing them, dying soon thereafter.