Adventures among ants : a global safari with a cast of trillions /

Rarely does a book like this come along. Moffett (Smithsonian; The High Frontier, 1993) is a fearless explorer and one of the great photographers of the day. This reviewer was aware of the author's excellent writing from his articles in National Geographic but was unaware of his fascination with ants. In the introduction, Moffett relates his early experiences with entomology and with E. O. Wilson, the definitive "ant man" and director of Moffett's graduate work. What follows is an intimate account of an exceptionally inquisitive naturalist and his experiences with the miniature world of the most abundant animal on Earth--the ant. There is no plot. In successive chapters, Moffett entertains with amazing tales of marauder ants, army ants, weaver ants, Amazon ants, leaf-cutter ants and, finally, Argentine ants (what a serious nuisance they will become!). As interesting as the text is, written from the generalist's standpoint, the photographs are breathtaking and alone are well worth the price of the book. Any library with entomological holdings will own this book; all other libraries should. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels of readership. P. K. Lago University of Mississippi

Are ants exciting? You bet they are! Entomologist Moffett, who has been described as the Indiana Jones of entomology, takes the reader along as he travels the world in search of ants. Ants are found on every continent except Antarctica and in virtually every climate. They are masters at exploiting an abundant niche the cracks, crevices, gaps, hollows, and other interstices of the environment. As a small child Moffett was enraptured by ants, and, after reading the exploits of the early explorer-naturalists, he wanted to be a field biologist. Studying ants has led him to India and the marauder ant, which has workers of three sizes, the largest being 500 times the size of the smallest the smallest, however, are those that start the hunt. In Nigeria, he watches army ants on raids, observing how individual prey species fight back. Weaver ants in Australia, Asia, and Africa use their larvae's ability to spin silk to bind leaves together to make a nest. In Brunei, the author observed ants diving into pitcher plants to retrieve drowned insects. California reveals the slaver Amazon ants, who steal pupae from other ant species to do all of their work for them. In South America, Moffett digs up colonies of leaf-cutting ants, who grow their fungus food in gardens based on leaves they cut. Illustrated throughout with the author's exquisite closeup photos, photos that bring the actions of these tiny protagonists to a size we can appreciate, Moffett's work will make ant appreciators of even the most phobic.--Bent, Nancy Copyright 2010 Booklist

People are fascinated by the things they fear-spiders, insects, snakes-perhaps because the key to taming fears is knowledge. The enormous success of such books as Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson's The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies attests to that. This superb book by a first-class writer with an unsurpassed feel for ants begins at the ground level as we come face to face with the creatures, move into their minds, and begin to understand what makes them tick. Moffett organizes his text around six ant lifestyles, each represented by an insect that dominates its habitat: Indian Marauder ants, African army ants, African Weaver ants, Amazon slavemaking ants, Neotropical leaf cutter ants, and the Argentine ant, a global invader. The final chapter, "Four Ways of Looking at an Ant," explores the concepts of ants as individuals and an ant colony as a society, an organism, or a mind. VERDICT This marvelous volume illustrated with the author's close-up photographs will delight biologists, naturalists, and general readers with a natural history bent.-Annette Aiello, Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst., Panama (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.