The year has started out on a positive note.  On our first hike of 2022 we saw several ant nests. Getting closer… we saw Veromessor pergandei workers actively foraging. The ants were carrying grass seeds. These are such beautiful ants. The middens appear to be mostly one type of grass. This is a new hiking trail for me and I hope to return to it over the year to see how the ant nests progress (and carry my camera instead of just my phone). Did you see any ants today? What kind ..read more

According to his obituary in The New York Times, Dr. E.O. Wilson passed away on Sunday, December 26, 2021. He will be greatly missed by myrmecologists around the world. Anyone who is interested in ants has probably read at least one of Wilson’s books, including the groundbreaking tome The Ants written with Bert Hölldobler. The Ants won them a Pulitzer Prize in 1991. (Cover images and titles are Amazon affiliate links.) On a more personal note, my graduate advisor at Cornell University, Dr. William L. Brown, Jr. — Bill — was a close friend and colleague of Dr. Wilson’s. He told many stories abo ..read more

  If you are looking for a book about bumbles bees that the whole family might enjoy, check out the middle grade title, The Beekeepers: How Humans Changed the World of Bumble Bees by Dana L. Church. Why bumble bees? Honey bees have gotten a lot of press lately, but bumble bees are also important pollinators. Public domain photograph of a Solanum flower from USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab Flickr Page In fact, bumble bees are much better at pollinating certain plants, especially tomatoes and other members of the genus Solanum. Summary: After briefly describing the history of studying ..read more

You’ve probably all discovered the iNaturalist app years ago, but I just started playing around with some of its capabilities. For example, I’m interested in ant nests. The shape of the nest can sometimes help with identification. It is also fascinating to see what insects are capable of building. Check out this cecropia ant nest, Genus Azteca. © Nelson Wisnik, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC) It does lead to questions, such as where are the ants  and what is the nest made of? Here’s a similar public domain image from Wikimedia by Alex Wild. It is from from a guayaba tree in Archidona, E ..read more

Want to travel the world in 2021 and learn more about ants? Check out the California Academy of Sciences’ Ant Course. According to the website, this year the course will be held August 1 – 14, 2021 in Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam. “The insect populations at Cuc Phuong are also highly abundant, with the identification of 1899 species and forms belonging to 169 families in 33 orders.” It costs about  $450 on site, plus the student is responsible for their own travel expenses to and from the park. A limited number of students are accepted. If you’d like to go, you will need to complet ..read more

Looking for a last minute gift for an ant aficionado or nature enthusiast?  Army Ants: Nature’s Ultimate Social Hunters* by Daniel J. C. Kronauer is the perfect choice. (*Amazon Affiliate Link) Written to be accessible for the general audience, the book features Kronauer’s eye-catching, gorgeous full-color photographs. In fact the illustrations might make you think it could  be a coffee table book, but don’t be fooled. Army Ants is full of serious, sometimes cutting-edge science, too. What’s in the book In the prologue, the reader learns about how popular culture has viewed army ant ..read more

If you are new to ants, you might enjoy this delightful presentation by ant enthusiast Merav sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. She discusses a bit of ant biology, with an emphasis on ant nests. I particularly enjoyed some of the questions from the “audience.” I’m supposed to give a presentation about insects (with some ants, of course) in January. I’m hoping it will be in person by then.  If not, this might be a fun alternative. Have you seen any virtual presentations about ants recently? Are they available for public viewing ..read more

I’ve had this children’s picture book on my shelf for nearly a year and decided it was finally time to review it. Perhaps it took me that long to figure out what to say. Yes, it is that different. How To Walk An Ant by Cindy Derby is quirky fiction that features our favorite creatures: ants. My name is Amariyah, and I am an Expert Walker. No, I don’t mean I walk perfect, I mean I walk things. If that quote makes you laugh — or at least grin — then continue on. If not, then this book probably isn’t for you. The main part of the book is a “nine-step guide” to walking an ant. After explaining h ..read more

Not that ants ever really go away here, but it is nice to see such active ants this week.   The workers are removing soil from the nest. Spring cleaning ..read more

In addition to the Ants of the Southwest Class, the California Academy of Sciences’ Ant Course is another great way to learn about ants. This year it is being offered August 3 – 18, 2020 in Cameroon: Bouamir Field station, Dja Reserve. It costs $450 and is limited to 17 students. Sponsored by California Academy of Sciences, US National Science Foundation, Congo Basin Institute, IITA-Cameroon, the Ant Course is intended to help both professionals and interested amateurs learn about identification, behavior, and ecology of ants. The website has more details. It isn’t offered every year and the l ..read more