The leafcutter ants : civilization by instinct

Bibliographic Information

The leafcutter ants : civilization by instinct

Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson

W. W. Norton & Company, c2011

  • pbk.

Available at  / 4 libraries

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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.

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Details

  • NCID
    BB0664438X
  • ISBN
    • 9780393338683
  • LCCN
    2010016202
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    New York
  • Pages/Volumes
    160 p.
  • Size
    21 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
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