Synopses & Reviews
View a collection of videos on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities"
This landmark work, the distillation of a lifetime of research by the world's leading myrmecologists, is a thoroughgoing survey of one of the largest and most diverse groups of animals on the planet. Hölldobler and Wilson review in exhaustive detail virtually all topics in the anatomy, physiology, social organization, ecology, and natural history of the ants. In large format, with almost a thousand line drawings, photographs, and paintings, it is one of the most visually rich and all-encompassing views of any group of organisms on earth. It will be welcomed both as an introduction to the subject and as an encyclopedia reference for researchers in entomology, ecology, and sociobiology.
Review
While it is impossible to write a definitive tome and make it 100 percent transparent to the nonscientist, this volume achieves the utmost clarity...Science is rarely good literature. The Ants is an exalting exception. Chicago Tribune
Review
A monumental achievement, the last word in myrmecology, the study of ants...It is likely the average adult...will be intrigued by passages about these ubiquitous and complicated creatures. Paul Galloway
Review
The Ants is not only another milestone in a remarkable career but also a high point in crossover publishing. For the specialist. Holldobler and Wilson bring elegance and order to a complex subject. For the curious layman, there is a glimpse into the workings of evolution. Donald H. Feener, Jr., et al. - Nature
Review
The Ants is a stunningly attractive volume that belongs as much on the coffee table as it does on the lab bench... The 20 chapters are organized thematically, and they are written in a clear, accessible and engaging style... Only Hölldobler and Wilson could have written such a comprehensive and integrated treatment of ant biology. It represents a herculean labour of love, and it sets a new standard for synthetic works on major taxa...The Ants will undoubtedly remain in active service for decades, guiding both tourists and seasoned travellers through a strange and wonderful world. Rick Weiss - Washington Post
Review
This magnificent and long-awaited volume is the definitive work on [ants]...Every imaginable area of interest to a biologist, a sociologist, even a curious citizen, is covered...At once remarkably exhaustive and parsimonious, the book does not stint on exhaustive detail wherever such detail is required. Thomas E. Lovejoy - New York Times Book Review
Review
The beauty of this heavily illustrated tome is that it conveys this message to both the lay reader and the professional entomologist with equal aplomb. For the interested but ignorant, Hölldobler and Wilson provide a gentle introduction into the complex and bizarre reality of life as an ant...This myrmecological bible--with its 50-page key to ant classification, 60 pages of detailed anatomical drawings and hundreds of other sketches and photos--is a scientific and artistic accomplishment of historic significance. Yet it succeeds in convincing even the most casual reader of --as the first chapter is titled--the Importance of Ants. William Brown - Scientific American
Review
Hölldobler and Wilson's mighty tome will surely take its place among the greatest of all entomology books...it will inspire many new gereations of students with its blend of scholarship, enthusiasm, and unabashed delight. R.Z. Sheppard - Time
Synopsis
1991 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
Synopsis
1990 R.R. Hawkins Prize, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers
About the Author
Bert Hölldobler is now Foundation Professor of Biology at Arizona State University; formerly Chair of Behavioral Physiology and Sociology at the Theodor Boveri Institute, University of Würzburg. He is also the recipient of the U.S. Senior Scientist Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German government. Until 1990, he was the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard University.Edward O. Wilson is Pellegrino University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University. In addition to two Pulitzer Prizes (one of which he shares with Bert Hölldobler), Wilson has won many scientific awards, including the National Medal of Science and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Arizona State University
Table of Contents
1. The Importance of Ants
2. Classification and Origins
3. The Colony Life Cycle
4. Altruism and the Origin of the Worker Caste
5. Colony Odor and Kin Recognition
6. Queen Numbers and Domination
7. Communication
8. Caste and Division of Labor
9. Social Homeostasis and Flexibility
10. Foraging Strategies, Territory, and Population Regulation
11. The Organization of Species Communities
12. Symbioses among Ant Species
13. Symbioses with Other Arthropods
14. Symbioses between Ants and Plants
15. The Specialized Predators
16.The Army Ants
17. The Fungus Growers
18. The Harvesting Ants
19. Weaver Ants
20. Collecting, Culturing, Observing
Glossary
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index