The Daily Ant
Myrmecology Dies in Darkness
Author: Benjamin Blanchard
-
If you have never heard of the “Look Around You” British science TV show, you have something else to be thankful for this holiday season:
-
We get it. We really do. Sometimes you feel aimless, like your life is simply going around in circles. Today is like yesterday and the day prior, and the forecast for tomorrow indicates an 89% chance of more of the same. The slog is long. Today, we’re here to provide some encouragement to you: At…
-
If you are a Camponotus floridanus carpenter ant, you certainly would – at least, according to a recent study published in July of this year in Current Biology. Many thanks to Correspondant Mike Schellman for bringing to our attention this one-minute video that concisely breaks down the results of this surprising study: Incidentally, this is…
-
Okay, this isn’t really a proper Philosophy Phriday contribution, but: Greetings, dear readers! Have you been well? We trust that you have found a way to remain relatively myrmecologically informed in our long absence. We are very pleased to announce that The Daily Ant is back in business. We’ve even launched a Patreon, if you…
-
That’s right – this very day, February 21st, 2023, is the publication date of Ants: A Visual Guide! If you order today at Princeton University Press, you can even get 30% with the discount “PUP30” (the code works for both the hardcover and ebook version). If that doesn’t sound like a steal, then check out…
-
Myrmecophile. That’s a word. It’s a big word, too. It’s a word that means “ant lover”, so it is also a word that could apply to you, dear reader. Usually, “myrmecophile” describes any of an impressively large number of species that have close-knit relationships with ants. We have myrmecophiles on the mind today, because we…
-
When we decided to reemerge this week after two long, silent years, it turns out that we chose an especially auspicious season. Evidence of our fortune first presented itself via this tweet from the most influential cinematic account on Twitter: Is it a coincidence that this tweet was tweeted on Monday, the very day we…
-
There is a moment in the life of every media outlet dedicated to providing premier ant content for general consumption when it becomes inescapably clear that silence is no longer an option. Formicid friends, readers, and inquilines, we at The Daily Ant have arrived at such a moment. We have been silent for two full…
-
Most of our formicid-loving Jewish readers will know that we are amidst the Jewish holiday of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Tonight will be the sixth night of the seven-day holiday. The intermediate days between the first and last days of Sukkot (as well as Passover) are called Chol HaMoed. This is important, because it turns…
-
Earlier this year, BBC Earth put together a 20-minute video titled “Best of Ants”, a collection of their “Top 5 Ant Moments”. Enjoy!
-
On Sunday, our editor-in-chief was interviewed by a new ant-keeper podcast with the delightful name “FormiCast“! Although the focus of the podcast is generally ant-keeping, the interview focused more on various ant facts, including a question and antswer period. The interview begins at about minute 6:00 in the video embedded below. Enjoy! [UPDATE: It turns…
-
Ants are so beautiful that even the true bugs wanna be them. Check out this ant mimic larvae in the order Hemiptera (the “true bugs”), shared on Twitter by PhD student Naoto Idogawa (井戸川直人) of Kyoto University. Remember, though it may be hard to believe, this is *not* an ant! One of the clearest signs…
The Daily Ant 