Animal Behavior: Ants

Abstract

Ant Encounters: Interaction Networks and Colony Behavior. By Deborah M. Gordon . 2010. Princeton University Press (ISBN 9780691138794). 184 pages. Paperback. $$19.95. It is clear that Deborah Gordon is passionate about ants. Not only that, but she has spent a great deal of time both in the field and in the library doing research on these fascinating creatures. She begins the book by describing the colony as a complex and agrees with Latreille (1798), who stated that ants are of one mind separated into many bodies. She goes on to state that ““ants see poorly, and they rely on chemical cues”” (p. 4). This is the main method of communication used by colonies, although all ants use a slightly different variation of the colony system. Reading further, one can see Gordon's many years in the field as she goes on to talk about the colony system: ““I realized that a colony's behavior changed over …