The Ant Planet

Famous myrmecologist and founder of sociobiology Edward Wilson wrote this book based on his nearly 80 years of experience studying ants. These amazing insects live in societies that, in their structure and diversity, can be compared to human ones. However, while describing their behavior and social life, the author notes that ants are far from perfection from the standpoint of human morality: this is a completely female world, in which the fate of males is not enviable; at the same time, they are quite warlike, slavery, parasitism, and even cannibalism thrive among them. At the same time, their complex joint actions and the need to navigate in space require developed intelligence and communication, which for them is based on pheromones. The book describes the enormous diversity of these insects. At the same time, the scientist notes that the ant world is full of white spots. Currently, the species well studied in terms of their natural history and biology constitute only a tiny fraction of more than 15,000 ant species that are now known to science, while thousands of species remain undiscovered.