Adventures among Ants. Mark W. Moffett

      

      ADVENTURES AMONG ANTS

       The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the General

       Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation.

      University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

      University of California Press

      Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

      University of California Press, Ltd.

      London, England

      © 2010 by Mark W. Moffett

      Title page: A Bornean carpenter ant, Camponotus schmitzi, traveling along the spiral base of a pitcher plant. The ant fishes prey out of the liquid-filled pitcher of this carnivorous plant (see photograph on page 142).

      Ogden Nash’s “The Ant” © 1935 by Ogden Nash is reprinted with permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

      Design and composition: Jody Hanson

      Text: 9.5/14 Scala

      Display: Grotesque Condensed

      Indexing: Victoria Baker

      Printed through: Asia Pacific Offset, Inc.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Moffett, Mark W.

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

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-520-26199-0 (cloth : alk. paper)

      1. Ants—Behavior. 2. Ant communities. 3. Ants—Ecology. I. Title.

      QL568.F7M64 2010

      595.79'615—dc22

      2009040610

      Manufactured in China

      19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

      ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997)

       This book celebrates a triumvirate of extraordinary human beings:

       Edward O. Wilson, and his elemental joy in the naturalist’s life;

       Mary G. Smith, and her success at giving the field sciences their grandeur;

       and Melissa W. Wells, and our partnership in this life of adventures

      Contents

       Introduction:Travels with My Ants

       A Brief Primer on Ants

       Marauder Ant, the Ultimate Omnivore

       1. Strength in Numbers

       2. The Perfect Swarm

       3. Division of Labor

       4. Infrastructure

       5. Group Transport

       African Army Ant, Raiders on the Swarm

       6. Big Game Hunters

       7. Clash of the Titans

       8. Notes from Underground

       Weaver Ant, Empress of the Air

       9. Canopy Empires

       10. Fortified Forests

       11. Negotiating the Physical World

       Amazon Ant, the Slavemaker

       12. Slaves of Sagehen Creek

       13. Abduction in the Afternoon

       Leafcutter Ant, the Constant Gardener

       14. A Fungus Farmer’s Life

       15. The Origins of Agriculture

       Argentine Ant, the Global Invader

       16. Armies of the Earth

       17. The Immortal Society

       Conclusion: Four Ways of Looking at an Ant

       Acknowledgments and a Note on Content

       Notes

       Index

      introduction travels with my ants

      A pale morning in June 4 AM

      the country roads still greyish and moist

      tunnelling endlessly through pines

      a car had passed by on the dusty road

      where an ant was out with her pine needle working

      she was wandering around in the huge F of Firestone

      that had been pressed into the sandy earth

      for a hundred and twenty kilometers.

      Fir needles are heavy.

      Time after time she slipped back with her badly