The leafcutter ants : civilization by instinct
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The leafcutter ants : civilization by instinct
W. W. Norton & Company, c2011
- pbk.
Available at 4 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [139]-154) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Leafcutter Ants is the most detailed and authoritative description of any ant species ever produced. With a text suitable for both a lay and a scientific audience, the book provides an unforgettable tour of Earth's most evolved animal societies. Each colony of leafcutters contains as many as five million workers, all the daughters of a single queen that can live over a decade. A gigantic nest can stretch thirty feet across, rise five feet or more above the ground, and consist of hundreds of chambers that reach twenty-five feet below the ground surface. Indeed, the leafcutters have parlayed their instinctive civilization into a virtual domination of forest, grassland, and cropland-from Louisiana to Patagonia. Inspired by a section of the authors' acclaimed The Superorganism, this brilliantly illustrated work provides the ultimate explanation of what a social order with a half-billion years of animal evolution has achieved.
by "Nielsen BookData"