Have you ever been amused by how the same new idea springs up in many different places at the same time? With two animated ant movies currently showing on the big screen ( Antz and A Bug's Life), it seemed the right time to jump on the ant bandwagon. One of the most unusual sites I found sells an ant bracelet. If you are not repulsed by the thought of ants living in a circular tube on your wrist, you can find them here.
"The ant is a familiar insect that you have played with since your childhood. However, there is much information about ants that has remained unknown to you, such as: how many kinds there are, where they live and how they live?" Translated from the 1979 Japanese book of the same name, this delightful site has awesome photographs and whimsical illustrations. The entire encyclopedia is a joy to read; just excuse the occasional lapses in grammar. The best clicks are the sections on How to Catch Ants, How to Keep Ants, and Guidance for Individual Research. Looking for a science project? You'll find some great ideas here.
"There are 8,800 known species of ant in the world and they have a wide variety of lifestyles. For instance the giant Australian bull ants, which can be over 2.5 centimeters long, live very simple lives and the queens and workers look very similar. In contrast the leaf-cutting ants of Central and South America have a much more complicated social structure in their nests." Gordon's ant page is but a small part of the much larger Gordon's Entomological Home Page — an obvious labor of love for its creator, British entomologist Gordon Ramel.
Did you know a myrmecologist is a scientist that studies ants? This German site is quite extensive, with lots of information for the amateur myrmecologist. If you are ready to raise your own ant colony, you'll be interested in the recipe for nourishing ant food (egg yolk, yeast, sugar and honey) and instructions on building an artificial ant nest. Your ant colony will live much longer in one of these nests than in a commercial plastic ant farm.
"While there is much obsession with finding life in outer space, there are about one million different kinds of denizens of the animal world that breathe without lungs or gills, yet all have the same three body sections, six legs and antennae. I'm sure that up close, their appearance will out do any special effect space alien. Ants are just one kind of these." This small, but fascinating page lists the many social traits ants share with humans.
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Insect Themed FoodJeremy's Ant Farm | Steve's Ant Farm |
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