The Daily Ant
Myrmecology Dies in Darkness
Category: Art & Media
-
Many thanks to Worker Correspondant Jason Bates, who sent us this video by the BBC, which could also be called “Until the cows come home”:
-
Continuing the long, lovely, storied history of ant comics by Poorly Drawn Lines, here is a playful comic, “Blocked“, from about 6 months ago (and trust us… it won’t be the last PDL ant comic – stay tuned): Of course, as is so often the case, we have our antrepid Comic Correspondant Matt Hernandez to…
-
It should come as a surprise to no one – vertebrate or invertebrate – that a song (mostly) about an ant won a 1959 Oscar for Best Original Song. That song, “High Hopes“, is a charming ditty, as you can see and hear in the embedded video, below. The most antspirational lyrics are as follows:…
-
This is… a wonderful animation about army ants. A retweet by myrmecologist Dr. Adrian Smith brought the video to our attention, so we’ll be one of the only ones to say it this week: Thank you, Twitter! Watch “The World War of the Ants – The Army Ant”, by Kurzgesagt, now:
-
Who’s missed us? Let us know in the comments, before or after you’ve watched “Uncle Donald’s Ants”, from 1952.
-
If you are reading this sentence, it is more likely than not that you’re aware of our Sunday poetry series, Formicid Form. Yet this series may be a little too mainstream for your tastes, and you may desire something more creative. Is that so? Then check out this step-by-step guide on how to get leaf-cutter…
-
We know what you are thinking. Indeed, our production of premier ant content for general consumption has been flagging lately. It’s true, we haven’t posted a non-Philosophy Phridays article in quite a long time. Could it be a conspiracy? Has Big Vertebrate succeeded in silencing our noble cause? Could chemtrails be to blame? Well, we don’t…
-
It goes without saying that anybody who is anybody enjoys ants with all the human senses. Taste is no exception. Thankfully, the PBS culinary show “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having” appears to wholeheartedly agree! Ants are featured at the 38-minute mark in the very first episode of the show (many thanks to Film Critic Derek…
-
Worker Correspondant Jason Bates recently shared with us the following comic, by Poorly Drawn Lines, ironically titled “Symbiosis”: Astute readers will notice that (1) this is a highly accurate depiction of the imbalanced relationship between man and ant, and (2) this is not the first time, nor even the second time, that we’ve featured an…
-
This intimidating ant is a species in the genus Odontomachus: Observe the powerful mandibles, the large eyes, the menacing form. Conventional wisdom must assume that such a fierce warrior is a natural winner in the horse ant race that is life. Get ready for the upset. This pleasant ant is a species in the genus Formica: Charm…
-
We already know that spiny ants are cool. But did you know that the first well-documented case of directed, intentional swimming by ants is in the spiny ant genus, Polyrhachis? Maybe we’re biased, but we think you will definitely want to watch this classic BBC Earth video of the ant-paddling Polyrhachis sokolova:
-
Imagine that you are a mango farmer in Thailand. You’re happy with your mango crop, and happily head off to the market to sell your delicious fruit. There, you expect to sell out, but instead find that few passerby are interested in your produce. To add antsult to injury, you look at a nearby stall…
The Daily Ant 