The Ants Summary

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The Ants

By Bert Hölldobler

And

Edward O. Wilson

Book Review:

Mauricio Bruciaga

Hölldobler graduated from the University of Würzburg. He studied biology and chemistry, and his doctoral thesis was on the social behavior of male carpenter ants. Hölldobler has three main theoretical and experimental contributions: sociobiology, behavioral ecology, and chemical ecology. His study subjects are usually insects even more specifically it is ants. Hölldobler now works at Arizona State University where he and his research team explore the behavioral mechanisms that underlie communication and division of labor systems in ant societies. They also investigate on how ants communicate with other colonies to regulate territories. Throughout his career Hölldobler has won many awards for his contributions to biology. Wilson is a biologist and researcher; his links in biology go with sociobiology and biodiversity. Wilson also a theorist believes in consilience and biophilia. He is also an author; and a naturalist who believes in conservationism. In biology he specializes in the study of ants and he is considered to be the world’s leading authority. Wilson first started at the University of Alabama for his studies of biology. He then he got his doctorate in biology at Harvard University. Just like Hölldobler; Wilson has won many awards. They together won the Pulitzer award for this book “the Ants”. If you were to ask for my opinion if they are the right people to write a book; I would say that their credentials prove to us that they are more than capable of writing this book.

Chapter one is a brief overview of how ants have been able to evolve over the years. It also explains how throughout different regions the ant takes over most of...

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...ublic it was too complex. Another part I did not like the book was it was not very concrete. What I mean by this is that it seemed to have a lot of theories instead of ideas that are already concrete. I feel like I left a lot of information was brought out too long and they kept trying to show why that theory is right. What I really liked was that they showed pictures for the anatomy of the ant but even then it seemed very hard to understand the anatomy of the ant. The most useful part of the book was the 10 page glossary, which if you are not a specialist it is your best friend. Overall I feel like a lot of information I left out because I was not able to fully understand. The other parts that I left out I feel like it was not as important as the parts I put in. It was a long read but I was able to pick up some important and interesting theories.

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