Did you know that for every human on earth, there are about one million
ants? They are among the longest-lived insects--with some ant queens
passing the thirty-year mark--as well as some of the strongest. Fans of
both the city and countryside alike, ants decompose dead wood, turn over
soil (in some places more than earthworms), and even help plant forests
by distributing seeds. But while fewer than thirty of the nearly one
thousand ant species living in North America are true pests, we cringe
when we see them marching across our kitchen floors.
No longer! In this witty, accessible, and beautifully illustrated guide,
Eleanor Spicer Rice, Alex Wild, and Rob Dunn metamorphose creepy-crawly
revulsion into myrmecological wonder. Emerging from Dunn's ambitious
citizen science project Your Wild Life (an initiative based at North
Carolina State University), Dr. Eleanor's Book of Common Ants provides
an eye-opening entomological overview of the natural history of species
most noted by project participants--and even offers tips on keeping ant
farms in your home. Exploring species from the spreading red imported
fire ant to the pavement ant, and featuring Wild's stunning photography,
this guide will be a tremendous resource for teachers, students, and
scientists alike. But more than this, it will transform the way we
perceive the environment around us by deepening our understanding of its
littlest inhabitants, inspiring everyone to find their inner naturalist,
get outside, and crawl across the dirt--magnifying glass in hand.
