Hoyt, Erich

New York. 1996. March 1996. Simon & Schuster. 1st Printing. Very Good in Dustjacket . 0684810867. 319 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Julie Metz. keywords: Ants Science Nature. FROM THE PUBLISHER - Uninvited guests at the world's picnics, ants inhabit a world all their own, a world that is fantastic, alien, yet at times oddly familiar. They plant underground gardens and harvest crops, raise other insects as livestock, build their own roadways and bridges, and communicate using a complex system of chemical and tactile messages. They also make war, stage bizarre tournaments, and display such feats of altruism and loyalty to their mates that when Darwin learned of ant behavior he thought his theory of evolution by natural selection was in trouble. In The Earth Dwellers, Erich Hoyt invites us to enter this world and to see it in a unique way - from the ant's point of view. Hoyt takes us along as two of the world's most renowned field biologists, Edward O. Wilson and William L. Brown, Jr., embark on their first expedition together in thirty years to go ‘ant treasure-hunting' in the tropical jungle. Set in the nature reserve of La Selva in Costa Rica, THE EARTH DWELLERS illuminates the lives of individual ants, allowing them to lead us into their vivid and complex world. There is the leafcutter scout whose daily journeys we follow until she sacrifices her life for the virgin leafcutter queen; the big swarm raider male ant who persuades an alien group of ants to accept him, through his scent, thereby granting him access to their queen; the giant bullet ant worker, who leads her sister to a food source only to die alone, high up in the rain forest canopy; and the little fire ants, washed out to sea on a log and carried thousands of miles on their mission to conquer the world. These stories alternative with Wilson and Brown's adventures as they identify new species of ants, pursue their quest for the rarely seen ‘miracle' ant, and share two lifetimes of wonder at their tiny subjects. inventory #21921 ISBN: 0684810867.