The Complex Social Lives of Ants and Why They Matter

Source: Princeton University Press/with permission.

Ants are fascinating and remarkably intelligent insects who live in complex social groups called colonies.^1,2 When I first learned about ant expert Armin Schieb's beautifully illustrated and easy-to-read new book, The Ant Collective: Inside the World of an Ant Colony, I couldn't wait to open it. In my humble opinion it is one of the best books about these amazing beings. It also reminded me of the ways in which honey bees socially interact in their large and complex colonies. Here is what Armin had to say about his landmark book.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write The Ant Collective?

Armin Schieb: The book was created as a final project for my illustration degree. Initially, it was supposed to deal with swarm intelligence, until I discovered a National Geographic photo report on South American driver ants, which sparked my interest in ants. The photographs by Mark W. Moffet impressed me with their strange, alien atmosphere and because the ants were not only depicted but also shown in their social activities. This created the impression that the ants were part of an intelligent and organized society. Further research led me to the book The Social Life of Ants by Klaus Dumpert, which deals with the diverse social behaviour of ants in detail. The book fascinated me greatly and I decided to illustrate swarm intelligence using the example of an ant species.

I chose the monogynous form of the red wood ant (Formica rufa) for several reasons: it is one of the most highly developed ant species and has versatile social behaviour. In contrast to exotic species, the appearance of wood ants is inconspicuous, which suited my intention to focus on their behaviour. They are also well-researched and, as a native species, I had the opportunity to observe them in nature.

MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?

AS: As an illustrator specialized in informative illustration, I am very interested in scientific topics and their visualization. To me, it is important to illustrate information that would remain very abstract in a purely written description. For this reason, ants were an attractive subject. Most scientific knowledge about them is stored in text form. This makes the written description of, for example, their internal anatomy or the self-organization of an ant trail difficult for people to understand, who are not familiar with ants. An appealing and clear visualization through illustrations offered the benefit of making the subject accessible to a wider audience.

Worker ants collect construction material for the ant hill.

Source: Illustration by Armin Schieb.

Another advantage of illustrations is that the social behaviour of ants can be depicted only incompletely with photography and film. Ants can be photographed well outside the nest, but the dark and narrow tunnel system of an ant nest is inaccessible to a camera due to its size and light requirements. An illustration has no such limitation. An illustrator can construct a scene according to his needs to convey the desired information. For example, the viewer can be placed close to the ants to show their social interactions, or the environment can be faded out to make the group behaviour of numerous ants visible.

MB: Who do you hope to reach in your book?

AS: The book is primarily aimed at interested readers. A certain age or prior knowledge is not required. However, it could be classified as a book for young people or adults. The book would have served its purpose if readers then sought further information and became familiar with the wide variety of ant species and their way of life.

A wood ant worker shares food with a male ant.

Source: Illustration by Armin Schieb.

MB: What are some of the major topics you consider?

AS: The book introduces the reader to the complex organization of a wood ant nest. It is focused on the versatile social behaviour of wood ants; the anatomy is only brought up when it is relevant to their social behaviour. On the one hand, the products of the seemingly intelligent organization are shown. For example, the ant hill or an ant trail. On the other hand, the emergence of the organization is shown. It emerges from the ants interacting with each other and their reaction to the environment.

Another intention of the book is to show that everything in an ant nest is interwoven. All chapters are linked to each other, in terms of content and visually. This creates a continuous narrative throughout the book. The book starts with an introduction into the wood ant anatomy and shows the formation of a new colony. The middle section shows the architecture of an ant nest, the exploration of the forest, the acquisition and distribution of food and the division of labour. The book ends with the colony’s relocation to a new nest site.

MB: How does your book differ from others that are concerned with some of the same general topics?

AS: I wanted to combine the high information density of a scientific publication with an aesthetically pleasing presentation. As far as I know, there is no other book that presents the red wood ant in such a comprehensive graphic form. I think that even readers who own many ant books can learn something new from it.

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MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about these amazing beings, they will treat them with more respect?

AS: Yes, I think, if the book makes the readers familiar with the life of ants, they will respect them more and see them as animals worth protecting.