The leafcutter Ants – Civilization by Instinct

The Leafcutter Ants – Civilization by
Instinct.
2010, 160pp. Paperback, 210 x 160mm. Colour ph.

Publishers description:
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of The Ants comes this dynamic
and visually spectacular portrait of Earths ultimate superorganism.

The Leafcutter Ants is the most detailed and authoritative description
of any ant species ever produced. With a text suitable for both a lay
and a scientific audience, the book provides an unforgettable tour of
Earths most evolved animal societies.
Each colony of leafcutters
contains as many as five million workers, all the daughters of a single
queen that can live over a decade.

A gigantic nest can stretch 10 metres
across, rise more than 1.5 metres above the ground, and consist of
hundreds of chambers that reach eight metres below the ground surface.
Indeed, the leafcutters have parlayed their instinctive civilization
into a virtual domination of forest, grassland, and cropland – from
Louisiana to Patagonia.

Inspired by a section of the authors acclaimed The Superorganism, this
brilliantly illustrated work provides the ultimate explanation of what a
social order with a half-billion years of animal evolution has achieved.