The Lives of Ants

The Lives of Ants

by Laurent Keller (Author), Laurent Keller (Author), Elisabeth Gordon (Author)

Synopsis

Humans have long been fascinated by ants. While not necessarily brightly coloured or beautiful, ants display some remarkable characteristics that are almost unique in the animal world. They live in intricately organized societies, made up of individuals that cooperate, communicate, and divide up daily tasks. They display amazing ingenuity when it comes to building nests and other structures, finding supplies, or even exploiting other members of the animal kingdom. They are capable too of aggression and violence, of disturbing the apparent peace of their colonies and of sudden fratricidal or matricidal strife. In short, the lives of ants are among the most fascinating in the natural world. This is an account of those lives - looking at the many species of ants around the world, explaining the secret of their huge ecological success, examining the remarkable and varied behaviours that ants exhibit, and tying in molecular biology, genetics, and even cutting-edge developments in robotics, to shed light on what makes ants unique.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Edition: 1
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 26 Feb 2009

ISBN 10: 0199541868
ISBN 13: 9780199541867

Media Reviews
'The Lives of Ants', written for a popular audience, covers ant behaviour, ecology and evolution in a lively way. Deborah M. Gordon, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Vol.24 No. 9 Excellent layman's introduciton to myrmecology. Simon Schama, Financial Times This readable book contains...and answers all the things you've ever wanted to know about ants. James Delingpole, Mail on Sunday Excellent book. Guy Dammann, Guardian.co.uk Laurent Keller is an exceptionally talented evolutionary biologist. Nigel R. Franks, Science The book offers readers a fascinating account of the biology of ants. Nigel R. Franks, Science The book will reward its readers. Nigel R. Franks, Science Scientific yet accessible book. The Economist Fascinating book. PD Smith, The Guardian Attractive, readable summary of research into their lives. Jonathan Beard, New Scientist
Author Bio

Laurent Keller is Professor of Ecology and Evolution, and Head of the Department of Ecology and Evolution, at the University of Lausanne. In 2005 he was awarded the E. O. Wilson Naturalist Award.
Books by the same author:
Levels of Selection in Evolution Queen Number and Sociality in Insects
Elisabeth Gordon is a freelance journalist and writer.