Adventures among ants : a global safari with a cast of trillions / Mark W. Moffett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Moffett, Mark W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ants--Behavior.

Ants.

Ant communities.

Ants--Ecology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (289 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Intrepid international explorer, biologist, and photographer Mark W. Moffett, "the Indiana Jones of entomology," takes us around the globe on a strange and colorful journey in search of the hidden world of ants. In tales from Nigeria, Indonesia, the Amazon, Australia, California, and elsewhere, Moffett recounts his entomological exploits and provides fascinating details on how ants live and how they dominate their ecosystems through strikingly human behaviors, yet at a different scale and a faster tempo. Moffett's spectacular close-up photographs shrink us down to size, so that we can observe ants in familiar roles; warriors, builders, big-game hunters, and slave owners. We find them creating marketplaces and assembly lines and dealing with issues we think of as uniquely human-including hygiene, recycling, and warfare. Adventures among Ants introduces some of the world's most awe-inspiring species and offers a startling new perspective on the limits of our own perception.• Ants are world-class road builders, handling traffic problems on thoroughfares that dwarf our highway systems in their complexity• Ants with the largest societies often deploy complicated military tactics• Some ants have evolved from hunter-gatherers into farmers, domesticating other insects and growing crops for food

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction: Travels with My Ants

A Brief Primer on Ants

Marauder Ant, the Ultimate Omnivore

African Army Ant, Raiders on the Swarm

Weaver Ant, Empress of the Air

Amazon Ant, the Slavemaker

Leafcutter Ant, the Constant Gardener

Argentine Ant, the Global Invader

Conclusion: Four Ways of Looking at an Ant

Acknowledgments and a Note on Content

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780520945418

0520945417

OCLC:

763156517