The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization By Instinct

Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson

ISBN 10: 0393338681 / ISBN 13: 9780393338683

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2010

About this Item

From the publisher: "From the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of The Ants comes this dynamic and visually spectacular portrait of Earth's ultimate superorganism The Leafcutter Ants is the most detailed and authoritative description of any ant species ever produced With a text suitable for both a lay and a scientific audience, the book provides an unforgettable tour of Earth's most evolved animal societies Each colony of leafcutters contains as many as five million workers, all the daughters of a single queen that can live over a decade A gigantic nest can stretch thirty feet across, rise five feet or more above the ground, and consist of hundreds of chambers that reach twenty-five feet below the ground surface Indeed, the leafcutters have parlayed their instinctive civilization into a virtual domination of forest, grassland, and croplandâ from Louisiana to Patagonia Inspired by a section of the authors' acclaimed The Superorganism, this brilliantly illustrated work provides the ultimate explanation of what a social order with a half-billion years of animal evolution has achieved Four-color throughout, 56 photographs" This copy is as new in photo-illustrated wrappers No marks or damage at all 160 pp.

Seller Inventory # AA1965

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization By Instinct
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, New York
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393338681
• ISBN 13: 9780393338683
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st softcover edition.
• Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of The Ants comes this dynamic and visually spectacular portrait of Earth's ultimate superorganism.

The Leafcutter Ants is the most detailed and authoritative description of any ant species ever produced. With a text suitable for both a lay and a scientific audience, the book provides an unforgettable tour of Earth's most evolved animal societies. Each colony of leafcutters contains as many as five million workers, all the daughters of a single queen that can live over a decade. A gigantic nest can stretch thirty feet across, rise five feet or more above the ground, and consist of hundreds of chambers that reach twenty-five feet below the ground surface. Indeed, the leafcutters have parlayed their instinctive civilization into a virtual domination of forest, grassland, and cropland―from Louisiana to Patagonia. Inspired by a section of the authors' acclaimed The Superorganism, this brilliantly illustrated work provides the ultimate explanation of what a social order with a half-billion years of animal evolution has achieved. Four-color throughout, 56 photographs

About the Authors

Bert Hölldobler is Foundation Professor at Arizona State University and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. He lives in Arizona and Germany.

Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021) was the author of more than thirty books, including Anthill, Letters to a Young Scientist, and The Conquest of Nature. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, Wilson was a professor emeritus at Harvard University and lived with his wife in Lexington, Massachusetts.