Do some insects use slaves to survive?

Yes. Ants are social insects that reside in colonies, or subterranean chambers, that may contain up to 500,000 individuals. Small tunnels connect ant chambers to one another and to the earth's surface. There are food storage areas, mating areas, and nurseries for the young. A queen lays eggs to replenish the colony with young ants. Legions of worker ants construct and maintain the colony by carrying soil in their mandibles (a pair of appendages near the insect's mouth) and depositing it near the colony's exit, making an ant hill.

While the majority of ant colonies are self-sufficient, Amazon ants, which are aggressive red ants located in the western United States, take other ants' larvae to hold as slaves. The slave ants construct dwellings and feed the Amazon ants, who can only battle. They rely entirely on their slaves for survival.