Desert Navigator: The Journey of an Ant

Wehner, R.

ISBN 10: 0674045882 / ISBN 13: 9780674045880

Published by Harvard University Press, 2020

About this Item

416, 18 col photos, 153 col illus. . HB. NEW. . A world-renowned researcher of animal behavior reveals the extraordinary orienteering skills of desert ants, offering a thrilling account of the sophisticated ways insects function in their natural environments. Cataglyphis desert ants are agile ultrarunners who can tolerate near-lethal temperatures when they forage in the hot midday sun. But it is their remarkable navigational abilities that make these ants so fascinating to study. Whether in the Sahara or its ecological equivalents in the Namib Desert and Australian Outback, the Cataglyphis navigators can set out foraging across vast expanses of desert terrain in search of prey, and then find the shortest way home. For almost half a century, Rudiger Wehner and his collaborators have devised elegant experiments to unmask how they do it. Through a lively and lucid narrative, Desert Navigator offers a firsthand look at the extraordinary navigational skills of these charismatic desert dwellers and the experiments that revealed how they strategize and solve complex problems. Wehner and his team discovered that these insect navigators use visual cues in the sky that humans are unable to see, the Earth's magnetic field, wind direction, a step counter, and panoramic snapshots of landmarks, among other resources. The ants combine all of this information to steer an optimal course. At any given time during their long journey, they know exactly where to go. It is no wonder these nimble and versatile creatures have become models in the study of animal navigation. Desert Navigator brings to light the marvelous capacity and complexity found in these remarkable insects and shows us how mini brains can solve mega tasks. [9780674045880].

Seller Inventory # N39407

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Desert Navigator: The Journey of an Ant
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674045882
• ISBN 13: 9780674045880
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: NEW
• Seller catalogs:
  • ENTOMOLOGY,HYMENOPTERA

About this title

Synopsis

Winner of the Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences

A world-renowned researcher of animal behavior reveals the extraordinary orienteering skills of desert ants, offering a thrilling account of the sophisticated ways insects function in their natural environments.

Cataglyphis desert ants are agile ultrarunners who can tolerate near-lethal temperatures when they forage in the hot midday sun. But it is their remarkable navigational abilities that make these ants so fascinating to study. Whether in the Sahara or its ecological equivalents in the Namib Desert and Australian Outback, the Cataglyphis navigators can set out foraging across vast expanses of desert terrain in search of prey, and then find the shortest way home. For almost half a century, Rüdiger Wehner and his collaborators have devised elegant experiments to unmask how they do it.

Through a lively and lucid narrative, Desert Navigator offers a firsthand look at the extraordinary navigational skills of these charismatic desert dwellers and the experiments that revealed how they strategize and solve complex problems. Wehner and his team discovered that these insect navigators use visual cues in the sky that humans are unable to see, the Earth’s magnetic field, wind direction, a step counter, and panoramic “snapshots” of landmarks, among other resources. The ants combine all of this information to steer an optimal course. At any given time during their long journey, they know exactly where to go. It is no wonder these nimble and versatile creatures have become models in the study of animal navigation.

Desert Navigator brings to light the marvelous capacity and complexity found in these remarkable insects and shows us how mini brains can solve mega tasks.

About the Author

Rüdiger Wehner is Professor and Director Emeritus of the Institute of Zoology, University of Zürich. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Marcel Benoist Prize, the Carus Medal of the Leopoldina, the Karl von Frisch Prize, and the Humboldt Research Award. He is an Honorary Member of the German Zoological Society, an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Permanent Fellow Emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, and principal author of the well-known textbook Zoologie.