The Daily Ant
Myrmecology Dies in Darkness
Author: Benjamin Blanchard
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The Daily Ant hosts a weekly series, Philosophy Phridays, in which real philosophers share their thoughts at the intersection of ants and philosophy. This is the thirteenth contribution in the series, submitted by Dr. David Schwartz. Human Nature, Ethics, and Ants Human nature is a perennial topic of Western philosophy: What does it mean to be human? What distinguishes humans from other…
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The Daily Ant hosts a weekly series, Philosophy Phridays, in which real philosophers share their thoughts at the intersection of ants and philosophy. This is the twelfth contribution in the series, submitted by Kevin Lande. O Ant, Where Art Thou? Do ants have any idea where they are and where home is at? When they go out into the world, do they…
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On Monday, a neat new study was published in Myrmecological News. This study, by Dr. Eduardo Gonçalves Paterson Fox and colleagues, tracked the development of trap-jaw ants and produced some sweet SEM images of the ant babies. One of the authors, Dr. Adrian Smith, also produced a nice video where he explains this study to teenagers. Enjoy!
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The Daily Ant hosts a weekly series, Philosophy Phridays, in which real philosophers share their thoughts at the intersection of ants and philosophy. This is the eleventh contribution in the series, submitted by Dr. David Detmer. Giraffes Are Taller Than Ants, and Other Observations Giraffes are taller than ants. I claim to know this. Moreover, I maintain that “giraffes are taller than…
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Polydomy. It’s a thing. It’s a thing where a single ant colony occupies completely separate nesting chambers rather than a single nest site. Polydomy, in creating a more distributed nest structure, has been theorized to increase foraging efficiency and enhance acquisition of a more diverse set of resources. Yet, despite the prevalence of hypotheses and theoretical work relating to…
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The Daily Ant wishes all workers a very happy May Day! As a special treat, enjoy this inspired union advertisement, shared with us by Labor Correspondant Trish Kahle:
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Are there ants on the moon? Comic Correspondant Matt Hernandez shared with us an interesting take on this ancient question, by Poorly Drawn Lines:
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As our regular readers will have noticed, we have been a little quiet lately. For this, we apologize – regular programming will resume shortly. Also, we would like to announce the establishment of a Correspondants tab, which rightly honors the many people who have helped The Daily Ant achieve national international recognition. Thank you!
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The Daily Ant hosts a weekly series, Philosophy Phridays, in which real philosophers share their thoughts at the intersection of ants and philosophy. This is the ninth contribution in the series, submitted by Dr. Richard Polt. On Formiciform Virtue: Plato’s Ants As he imagines scenarios for the afterlife—which he’ll be entering within a few hours—Socrates speculates that if there’s reincarnation, those who have…
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Fungus-farming ants (the “attines”) are one of the most widely recognized groups of ants, particularly in the form of leaf-cutter ants. They even feature prominently at the beginning of the best classic Disney movie, Ant Lion King:
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Beat Correspondant Dr. Max Winston recently shared with us an interesting aural experience with a noble name: “Fire Ant”. Enjoy!
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All of the staff at The Daily Ant wish our loyal readers a Happy Easter!
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