Well, what can one say? A simply brilliant experiment from conception to execution to conclusion. It would be interesting to see how different ant colonies of the same species treat an identical set up.
To readers unfamiliar with professor Tschinkel's remarkable work, I recommend his book, Ant Architecture, Princeton University Press, 2021., especially Chapter 7. A wonderful read through out.
love using the forceps to take bits from their mandibles!!! I remember your telling me about the kind of planning that went into your dissertation experiment - that it was set up so that the actual implementation (in the field?) took place over just 3 weeks or so. What struck me is how skilled and efficient the overall research called for so it would work as planned and not crash and burn the years of prep! i may not have this exactly accurate, but the main point of having sound methodology and an awful lot of patience (and maybe luck?) has always stayed with me! thanks so much - and this article, pix, text, etc are just wonderful. I know parts are published here and there, but wish it was in one handy overgrown "pamphlet" with all the images, too.
Well, what can one say? A simply brilliant experiment from conception to execution to conclusion. It would be interesting to see how different ant colonies of the same species treat an identical set up.
To readers unfamiliar with professor Tschinkel's remarkable work, I recommend his book, Ant Architecture, Princeton University Press, 2021., especially Chapter 7. A wonderful read through out.
love using the forceps to take bits from their mandibles!!! I remember your telling me about the kind of planning that went into your dissertation experiment - that it was set up so that the actual implementation (in the field?) took place over just 3 weeks or so. What struck me is how skilled and efficient the overall research called for so it would work as planned and not crash and burn the years of prep! i may not have this exactly accurate, but the main point of having sound methodology and an awful lot of patience (and maybe luck?) has always stayed with me! thanks so much - and this article, pix, text, etc are just wonderful. I know parts are published here and there, but wish it was in one handy overgrown "pamphlet" with all the images, too.
Amazingly complex structures built by "unskilled", cooperative workers. What should humans learn from this?