Ants at Work: How an Insect Society is Organized
by Deborah Gordon
Illustrations by Michelle Schwengel
1999Did you know? Harvester ant colonies that last for more than two years generally will last for another fifteen years. The colony dies after the queen ant dies, because then no more worker ants are born. The worker ants live only for a year. Ant colonies typically reach an adult size of about 10,000 ants and begin to reproduce (produce more colonies) when they are four or five years old, but if they are crowded by other colonies they may never reach full size or reproduce.
Deborah Gordon studies red harvester ants,
Pogonomymex barbatus, in Arizona during the summer.
The most interesting thing that this book does not talk about enough is ant pheromones. The spread of smells and communication through them ought to have been elaborated on. Can ants leave messages with pheromones? If so, why doesn't that account for why ants know whether or not foreign ant are neighbors?
Pleasant reading.
