Book Review
-
Book Review
"The Ant Collective: Inside the World of an Ant Colony" by Armin SchiebIf you love insects, nature or ants you should get this book. It's dense with diagrams and illustrations that cover every aspect of the lives of wood ants, the famous ants of temperate forests who build pine needle mountains and have massive colonies.
Kids can enjoy the illustrations but this isn't a book made just for kids. The anatomy diagrams are some of the best I've seen.
The Ant Collective
Ants come alive on this fabulously illustrated journey into the heart of a bustling colony
(press.princeton.edu)
-
Book Review
"The Ant Collective: Inside the World of an Ant Colony" by Armin SchiebIf you love insects, nature or ants you should get this book. It's dense with diagrams and illustrations that cover every aspect of the lives of wood ants, the famous ants of temperate forests who build pine needle mountains and have massive colonies.
Kids can enjoy the illustrations but this isn't a book made just for kids. The anatomy diagrams are some of the best I've seen.
The Ant Collective
Ants come alive on this fabulously illustrated journey into the heart of a bustling colony
(press.princeton.edu)
The illustrations are carefully crafted digital drawings and very accurate. A lot of care went into making this book. I kind of wish I could have grown up with it, at first just enjoying the images, then reading more and more of the details and captions to discover the secrets of these very common but amazing ants.
The ants featured in the book are from the forests of Europe, but you can find similar species in the pacific northwest.
Five Stars! Excellent Book!
-
The illustrations are carefully crafted digital drawings and very accurate. A lot of care went into making this book. I kind of wish I could have grown up with it, at first just enjoying the images, then reading more and more of the details and captions to discover the secrets of these very common but amazing ants.
The ants featured in the book are from the forests of Europe, but you can find similar species in the pacific northwest.
Five Stars! Excellent Book!
Would love to see another book like this about other charismatic species. Weaver ants?
Leaf cutters?
So many ways to expand on this idea. -
The illustrations are carefully crafted digital drawings and very accurate. A lot of care went into making this book. I kind of wish I could have grown up with it, at first just enjoying the images, then reading more and more of the details and captions to discover the secrets of these very common but amazing ants.
The ants featured in the book are from the forests of Europe, but you can find similar species in the pacific northwest.
Five Stars! Excellent Book!
This is a great gift.
Get it for the kids you know, get it for your partner, get it for your mom.
Buy ten and give them to everyone.
-
This is a great gift.
Get it for the kids you know, get it for your partner, get it for your mom.
Buy ten and give them to everyone.
@futurebird speaking of ants and gifts what species is usually in an ant farm?
-
@futurebird speaking of ants and gifts what species is usually in an ant farm?
If you mean the green "Uncle Milton" farms of mail order fame those were harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, specifically. These ants can be shipped without much issue as they are very hardy and they can live on seeds making them easier to feed than ants that require insect protein or live prey.
They also have a nasty sting. But, you need to really ask for it to get stung (unlike fire ants who will just sting you by way of saying "how's it going?")
-
If you mean the green "Uncle Milton" farms of mail order fame those were harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, specifically. These ants can be shipped without much issue as they are very hardy and they can live on seeds making them easier to feed than ants that require insect protein or live prey.
They also have a nasty sting. But, you need to really ask for it to get stung (unlike fire ants who will just sting you by way of saying "how's it going?")
But that was the age of mail order ants in the back of comic books. I think if you live in the US it's much for fun to keep carpenter ants.
You do need to give them bugs to eat, which can be a deal-breaker for some, but they don't sting so you can interact with them more.
It's possible to keep many other species. Learning about your local ants and how to raise them is part of the hobby!
-
If you mean the green "Uncle Milton" farms of mail order fame those were harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, specifically. These ants can be shipped without much issue as they are very hardy and they can live on seeds making them easier to feed than ants that require insect protein or live prey.
They also have a nasty sting. But, you need to really ask for it to get stung (unlike fire ants who will just sting you by way of saying "how's it going?")
@futurebird i was just flashing back to afterschool study camp councilering where some kids left the farm open and the ants were like YOOOOO FREE FORAGE GO GO GO GO
but also knew they didnt look like east coast woodlands wild ants id grown up with
but wait what its really a sting?? i thought they only bit! simant lied to me
-
@futurebird speaking of ants and gifts what species is usually in an ant farm?
Oh... I would NOT recommend trying to keep wood ants as pets. Generally speaking field ants do very poorly in captivity. They are creatures of the forest and have very complex needs (for example many antkeepers discovered their colonies of wood ants wouldn't thrive unless supplied with pine needles and resin)
Also their colonies are massive. So unless you have an "ant room" you don't have enough space to really let them thrive.
-
@futurebird i was just flashing back to afterschool study camp councilering where some kids left the farm open and the ants were like YOOOOO FREE FORAGE GO GO GO GO
but also knew they didnt look like east coast woodlands wild ants id grown up with
but wait what its really a sting?? i thought they only bit! simant lied to me
Some ants can sting, some cannot. All ants will try to bite, but only a few have a bite that would cause pain for a human.
-
@futurebird i was just flashing back to afterschool study camp councilering where some kids left the farm open and the ants were like YOOOOO FREE FORAGE GO GO GO GO
but also knew they didnt look like east coast woodlands wild ants id grown up with
but wait what its really a sting?? i thought they only bit! simant lied to me
The First Law of Antkeeping:
"If you open a container that has ants in it then ants will come out of it."
-
F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
-
Oh... I would NOT recommend trying to keep wood ants as pets. Generally speaking field ants do very poorly in captivity. They are creatures of the forest and have very complex needs (for example many antkeepers discovered their colonies of wood ants wouldn't thrive unless supplied with pine needles and resin)
Also their colonies are massive. So unless you have an "ant room" you don't have enough space to really let them thrive.
Also some species of wood ants are protected species in many countries in Europe. It is illegal to keep them as pets.
(not all species, so it is possible to legally keep wood ants, but it's "advanced antkeeping" in my book, and you'd get as much enjoyment from a carpenter ant species, and they'd be much happier)
