Legacy:Ant Hill
Ant hills are found on forest terrain, and can be raided by right clicking the mound and selecting Raid. Ant hills are a common source for low FEP edible insects; Ant Soldiers and Ant Larvae are commonly found, Aphids and Ant Pupae are uncommonly found, while the Ant Empress and Ant Queen are rarely found. Be aware, it is common for three wandering swarms of Ants to be guarding the Ant Hill and all of them will attack if you raid the hill without fighting them first. For this reason, if you wish to combat the ants, it's best to fight them one-on-one first before beginning your raid on the anthill.
If you are fairly new, there are a number of good strategies to employ if you need ants to eat or study from an Ant Hill:
1) If you have some combat skills and have raised your combat abilities, simply kill the ants guarding the Ant Hill one by one before raiding it. This is a fairly easy fight, but don't be afraid to back off if things go wrong. You may wish to review combat mechanics here on the wiki before fighting.
2) If you have a rowboat, sail around until you see an Ant Hill right on the water's edge and raid it from the safety of your boat. You will have to initiate the raid, sail back a few tiles while the ants try to attack and then sail closer again to complete the raid; otherwise the game will allow them to attack you despite being in a boat.
3) Finally, you could start raiding, then quickly run far away before the guard swarms can hit you, and then let them start to catch up to you again. Once you have drawn the ants far enough away from the Ant Hill, run back and continue raiding it. Ants are slow, and as long as you ran far enough away, you should be done raiding and gone by the time they get back. If you attempt this method, note that it takes approximately 10 seconds to fully raid an Ant Hill, so give yourself enough distance between the guard swarms and the Ant Hill when running back to finish the raid.
4) A variation of number 3. Have a friend raid the ant hill and run away, as soon as he does raid the anthill yourself. After which both of you can escape on foot or by boat.
5) One of the most reliable ways requires a nearby source of water, but does not require a boat. Simply begin raiding and run away, and head to the shallow water. If you lead the ants into the shallow water, they will become confused and stop attacking you. You are then free to raid the anthill at your leisure.
Ways that don't work include:
Trying to catch the ants on a cliff or other terrain: Ant swarms can pass through all terrain, including tress, rocks, and cliffs.
Ignoring the ants and just taking the damage: It's just not a smart idea at all.
Note: Quality of edible ants recovered in a raid is directly related to soil quality and is softcapped by Survival.