WEAVER ants, marauder ants, army ants and slave-makers – Mark Moffett has studied, been bitten by and photographed them all. Moffett examines the idea of ants as superorganisms and looks at ways in which their colonies resemble, yet differ from, human societies. As superorganisms, they possess many advantages: a weaver ant colony weighs as much as a young leopard, but the ants can eat prey as small as mites or as large as scorpions. In the same environment, the leopard would starve because it needs much bigger meals.
Adventures Among Ants ends with an obvious parable. The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile…
