Ant (Animal)

218 Pages·2004·2.17 MB·English

by  Charlotte Sleigh

A
nt
Charlotte Sleigh
Animal series

Ant
Animal
Serieseditor:JonathanBurt
Alreadypublished
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CharlotteSleigh
reaktion books
ForMary,whoisprettywiseforatwo-leggedanimal.
Publishedby
reaktionbooksltd
79FarringdonRoad
Londonec1m3ju,uk
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
Firstpublished2003
Copyright©CharlotteSleigh2003
Allrightsreserved
Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval
systemortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,
mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwisewithouttheprior
permissionofthepublishers.
PrintedandboundinHongKong
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Sleigh,Charlotte
Ant.–(Animal)
1.Ants 2.Animalsandcivilization
I.Title
595.7’96
isbn1861891903
Contents
1 Introduction 7
2 AntsasMinions 28
3 AntsasModels 58
4 TheEnemyWithout 87
5 TheEnemyWithin 116
6 AntsasMachines 142
7 TheAmbiguousAnt 167
Timeline 192
References 194
Bibliography 205
Associations 207
Websites 208
Acknowledgements 209
PhotoAcknowledgements 210
Index 213
Ants(Formicae)onananthill,aminiaturefromaFrenchbestiaryofc.1450.
1 Introduction
Itisextraordinarilydifficulttoavoidusinggrandioseadjectives
inthedescriptionofants.
Antscommandarespectfromtheirfansoutofallproportion
totheinsects’size.Ants,theyaffirm,arethe‘-est’insects:the
cleverest,mostorganized,hardest-working,mostnumerous,
mostfecund,mostdominant;theyareolderthanhumans,more
bellicose, more cooperative, more communicative. Frequently
thesecomparisonsborderonthebizarre.Achildren’swebsite
asserts:‘Antbrainsarelargestamongstinsects...Ithasbeen
estimated that an ant’s brain may have the same processing
powerasaMacintoshiicomputer.’1
At least, all this is what myrmecologists (those who study
ants)wouldhaveusbelieve.Thoughtheirpreciseclaimshave
changedovertime,westernstudentsofantsalwaysseemto
havemadehyperbolicassertionsaboutthem.
TheeighteenthcenturynaturalphilosopherRéaumurstarted
atabasiclevelinhiscatalogueoftheextraordinaryqualities
of ants: ‘we have for them none of those aversions that are
frequentlyentertainedtowardssomanyotherinsects’.2Our
dispassionate attitude towards them compared to, say, cock-
roaches,signalstheirhumanstatus;theirexistenceisparallel
withourown.Unlikefleas,theyhavenoparticulardependence
upon us, and we have no need for them as we do for bees.
7
Thisindependentexistenceofantshas,atvarioustimes,been
a source both of wonder and of horror. Thomas Mouffet, a
sixteenth-centuryphysician,notedthattheants
. . . are so exemplary . . . it is no wonder that Plato,
Phaedone, hath determined that they who without the
help of philosophy have lead a civill life by custom or
fromtheirowndiligence,theyhadtheirsoulsfromAnts,
andwhentheydietheyareturnedtoantsagain.3
Here,theants’lackofrelianceuponphilosophymarksoutthe
alternativeyetequivalentnatureoftheirciviclives:aparallelso
wondrousthat,accordingtoPliny,theyaretheonlycreatures
besides us that bury their dead with funeral rites. More
contemporary analogue-myths assert with equal confidence
thatants,ifmagnifiedtothesizeofsheep,wouldruletheearth,
andthatintheeventofanuclearholocausttheywouldoutlast
humans.
In between the eras of Plato and nato, observers have
concoctedacanonofastoundingfactsandfiguresconcerning
thenumbersofants,theirdistribution,theirreproductionand
modes of life. They are habitually scaled up to ‘equate’ to
humanterms,uponwhichbasistheirnestsarecomparedtothe
pyramids,ortotheGreatWallofChina,andtheirmovement
withthatofaspeedingtrain.Theyhaverecentlybeenenumer-
ated at ten thousand trillion; collectively they are asserted to
weighasmuchastheearth’shumanpopulation.E.O.Wilson,
the most renowned living myrmecologist, claims that the
behaviourofantsisscientificallymoreinterestingthanthatof
humans’bestialcousinandthepsychologists’currentfavourite,
the chimp. The reason for this, he writes, is that ants can be
studiedforthemeaningoftheirsocialinteraction,whereasthe
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