Archive for the ‘ants’ Category

Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants

Friday, June 19th, 2009

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History has mounted a small new exhibit, Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants. Michele and her daughter and I took the morning off from Artomatic and checked out it yesterday. Ants dominate the small-scale world. We may seldom notice them, but ...

ant from Mars

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Thanks a lot, MSNBC. I hadn't had any coffee when I saw their headline, "Strange 'ant from Mars' discovered Blind, subterranean predator likely a descendant of Earth's first ants". A newly discovered species of a blind, subterranean predator — dubbed the "Ant from Mars" — is likely a descendant of one ...

Ant installation at the Central Florida Zoo

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

On a recent trip to the Central Florida Zoo, I ventured into the Massey Insect Zoo. I can't believe I almost missed the installation of giant ants on the pipe near the high ceiling: It was really great. How big are the ants? Scroll down on this page and you can ...

plaster mold of an anthill

Monday, March 17th, 2008

A plaster mold of an anthill courtesy of Sean.

Master of the Killer Ants

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

This week on Nova: Master of the Killer Ants. Although known for their ruthless aggression, driver ants also have a beneficial side. This is traditionally exploited by the Mofu people of northern Cameroon, who call the local species of red driver ants jaglavak. ... "Master of the Killer Ants" tells the story ...

“From Ants to People, an Instinct to Swarm”

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

Yesterday's New York Times Science section has a lengthy article that looks at some of the recent work by mathematical biologists Daniel Grunbaum and Iain Couzin on the instinct to swarm. If you have ever observed [tag]ants[/tag] marching in and out of a nest, you might have been reminded of ...

Ontogeny’s Friday Ant Zen

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Myrmecos.net brings us this awesome action photo of army ants preying on a queen they've dragged out of a colony they're raiding. [link via Matt Dowling's Blog, Ontogeny]

This kind of thing never ends well

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

I was reading a news item about Texas A and M University's Imported [tag]Fire Ant Research and Management Project[/tag] in and optimistically titled piece in the Mississippi Picayune Item: "Red fire ants, long a worry to farmers and ranchers, may have met their match." It's an interesting piece about the possibility ...