This essay is remarkable, and not only for the fascinating and gripping detail in which it explains the challenges and tactics involving newly mated queens. It also leaves this reader in awe of the level of scientific inquiry that must have been required to expose these wonders. Beautiful work!
Thanks! I worked on colony foundiing for ten or 15 years. It was a bolttomless well and challenging work, and there was always the next question. What it takes for fire ants simply to persist gives a glimpse of a struggle that is probably not unusual in the living world.
This chain of events never ceases to amaze me. I often describe this gauntlet when folks underestimate just how complex the lives of little animals can be.
This essay is remarkable, and not only for the fascinating and gripping detail in which it explains the challenges and tactics involving newly mated queens. It also leaves this reader in awe of the level of scientific inquiry that must have been required to expose these wonders. Beautiful work!
Thanks! I worked on colony foundiing for ten or 15 years. It was a bolttomless well and challenging work, and there was always the next question. What it takes for fire ants simply to persist gives a glimpse of a struggle that is probably not unusual in the living world.
This chain of events never ceases to amaze me. I often describe this gauntlet when folks underestimate just how complex the lives of little animals can be.
Yes, it's a mistake to conflate size and complexity. Every entomologist knows this.
Wiser words were never spoken. Brilliant essay as one would expect from perhaps the greatest expert on these ants now living.
Well, writing a 734 page book on fire ants does confer some expertise if I must say so. And glad to still be living. Thanks for the compliment!