"Ants are the most warlike of all animals with colony pitted against colony " writes E.O.
Wilson one of the world's most beloved scientists "their clashes dwarf Waterloo and
Gettysburg." In Tales from the Ant World two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Wilson takes us on a
myrmecological tour to such far-flung destinations as Mozambique and New Guinea the Gulf of
Mexico's Dauphin Island and even his parent's overgrown backyard thrillingly relating his
nine-decade-long scientific obsession with over 15 000 ant species. Animating his scientific
observations with illuminating personal stories Wilson hones in on twenty-five ant species to
explain how these genetically superior creatures talk smell and taste and more significantly
how they fight to determine who is dominant. Wryly observing that "males are little more than
flying sperm missiles" or that ants send their "little old ladies into battle " Wilson
eloquently relays his brushes with fire army and leafcutter ants as well as more exotic
species. Among them are the very rare Matabele Africa's fiercest warrior ants whose female
hunters can carry up to fifteen termites in their jaw (and as Wilson reports from personal
experience have an incredibly painful stinger) Costa Rica's Basiceros the slowest of all
ants and New Caledonia's Bull Ants the most endangered of them all which Wilson discovered
in 2011 after over twenty years of presumed extinction. Richly illustrated throughout with
depictions of ant species by Kristen Orr as well as photos from Wilsons' expeditions
throughout the world Tales from the Ant World is a fascinating if not occasionally
hair-raising personal account by one of our greatest scientists and a necessary volume for any
lover of the natural world.
