This is a comprehensive review of ant biology and behavior but really it's about the amazing variety of ways ants (and by extension all of life) have found to survive and thrive and the many ways that evolution, through competition and cooperation, can lead to complex speciation and behavior.

Some of my favorite examples came from leafcutter ants, who can denude a lemon tree in a day. They use the leaves to grow the fungus they live on, one of many examples of farming and ranching ant species. But when the leafcutters are out harvesting, they are vulnerable to parasites and therefore have come up with a unique defense - smaller (minor) worker ants of their species who ride along:

"Scuttle flies of the genus <i>Pseudacteon</i> love to lay their eggs on the thoraxes of leafcutters, who are unable to defend themselves while carrying their little leaf flags. Once hatched, the fly larvae crawl inside the ant's head, where they begin eating their host from the inside out....To nip this sinister process in the bud, transport ants are often accompanied by air defense workers. Tiny minors ride along...and defend them against attacks....The minors themselves have a natural form of defense against the flies: They are simply too small to serve as suitable bassinets for the flies' larvae."

Or look at the complex evolutionary arms race between the ants, their preferred fungal food and another invasive fungus that can wipe everything out:

"It is no accident that minors are so tiny. They have to be. They are the colony's gardeners and must be able to creep into any secret corner....checking the condition of the fungus. They feed it with chewed up leaves and lay the groundwork for new cultivation areas....A fungus grower's sworn enemy is the sac fungus <i>Escovopsis</i>, which lies in wait seeking an opportunity to infest the culture and bring about the ants' ruin....within a year or two, half the fungal cultures will be affected....To keep matters from reaching this stage, minors carry out patrols throughout the network....Workers on business outside the nest, who could be carrying all kinds of pathogens on their cuticles, are barred from entering the fungus garden....leafcutter ants regularly turn their chemical talents to their gardens [and]...produce a secretion...which they spread over the fungus. The substances secreted include growth hormone....antibiotics and antifungals, which the ants cannot synthesize themselves. The real manufacturers are symbiotic bacteria, which, depending on species, live on different parts of the ant's bodies and feed off glandular secretions. Thus, leafcutter gardens often witness wrestling matches among four different participants unlike any other in the animal kingdom: The ants tend to a fungus, which is attacked by another fungus, which the insects fight with the help of a bacteria. And this underground battle has raged for fifty million years."

How amazing is that?

Other standout chapters included looks at how ants are studied in the field (lots of digging and ziplocs), experimental methods for understanding ant behavior (particularly navigation), swarming and army ants, invasive species, and the many ways ants have found to feed themselves. I don't know how much of this ant knowledge I'll retain, but there are many cool lessons here on biodiversity and evolution.

Ants! The word conjures up many images. But, did you know that most ants are female? This fact and more can be learned in the fascinating new book, Empire of Ants: The Hidden Worlds and Extraordinary Lives of Earth's Tiny Conquerors. These stories are not about the ants you picture raiding a picnic basket. These ants are the little creatures that run the world, to paraphrase the authors.

Ants are way more fascinating than you would think. This book makes their life stories come alive in an easy-to-read and understand format. You don’t need a science degree to understand this text. The author has a very conversational style and tells the ants’ stories in an engaging and intriguing tone that will make you want to read more. It’s not a thriller, but some of the ant stories read like one!

I had no idea how ants moved around the world on ships and got to other continents. There is an entire world to be learned about that is tiny and often ignored because they live beneath our feet, underground, but ants live some complex lives! They use scent to recognize each other and there are ants in each colony who have very specific roles. You will learn all about these in this great book.

My favorite anecdote was how the scientists had to explain their ant-collecting tubes to the airport security people! So funny. There are plenty of stories and illustrations to help you get into this micro world of the ants.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in nature and its fascinating inhabitants. Ants may be small, but they are mighty. Ants rule the world.

Empire of Ants is a beautifully illustrated and fascinating look into the world of ants by Drs. Susanne Foitzik and Olav Fritsche. Originally released in German in 2019, this English language translation is due out 6th April 2021 from the Experiment. It's 352 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

The book is layman accessible, and I found it a fascinating read. It's well annotated (and the chapter notes and index make for fascinating further reading) but doesn't get bogged down in overly academic language. This is popular science writing - not a "how-to" guide for collection or specimen study. The authors do present a broad range of species and behaviors. It's clear they're both knowledgeable and respectful of their subjects. There are a handful of popular science and zoology writers who have the gift of writing layman accessibly and engagingly on their topics of expertise. We can add Drs. Foitzik and Fritsche to the list. The translation work is seamless and was completely invisible from my side. The chapter notes and bibliography are for papers and research presented in English (most science writing is in English these days).

Five stars. Heartily recommended for readers of science, ecology, and similar subjects.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

When I was little, and loved everything animal, my parents gave me a book on ants. It was a little, 32-page paperback with simple black and white drawings - and I loved it. I read it so many times that it fell to pieces.

Reading "Empire of Ants" gave me that same feeling of joy. Susanne Foitzik and Olaf Fritsche have the gift for communicating their enthusiasm for all things ants to the reader. They walk that fine line between giving needed information without drowning the reader in superfluous detail, and do so without condescending to the reader. They give the reader a good overview of all the ways ants have found to survive and thrive. There are ants that build nests bigger than a 2-car garage and ants that are so tiny that an entire colony can live inside an acorn; ants that live most of their lives in the tops of rain forest trees, and ants that don't bother building nests at all. They navigate by chemical signs, sunlight, and, incredibly, by keeping count of how many steps they are from the entrance to their nest. In between all the information about ants, there are a few asides about the adventures and misfortunes of field biologists (turns out customs officials look at plastic bags full of live ants with a jaundiced eye, and that one should be careful to stand well back when a colony of army ants is on the move).

In short, I recommend this for anyone who loves a good book on natural history. (based on e-ARC; photos and watercolor drawings look excellent, no index available)

Empire of Ants by Suzanne Foitzik

This book was just what I hoped it would be: a highly readable journey into the world of ants that included lots of factoids I never knew. Though I knew that ants were “ranchers,” tending to aphids for their honeydew, I hadn’t known they were farmers as well, and that they figured out agriculture millions of years before humans did. For that matter, they also figured out how to use antibiotics millennia before we started to walk erect. I knew that ants were fascinating creatures with complex societies, but this book showed me that they are even more fascinating and more complex than I ever imagined.

Foitzik has a wonderful way with words, and I loved reading her descriptions not only of ants but also of the work of the people who study ants, the myrmecologists. I won’t be able to see another ant hill without thinking of the people who literally suck the ants up into tubes, package them in freezer bags with pieces of ham for sustenance, and transport them on commercial airlines in order to get them back to the lab to study them.

If you like learning fascinating things about science and nature, this book is well worth your time.

I received a review copy of this book through Netgalley.