Dec 18, 2024
Alan, an ant enthusiast since childhood, is joined by Susanne
Foitzik, author of Empire of Ants: The Hidden Worlds and
Extraordinary Lives of Earth’s Tiny Conquerors. She explains that
while queens start colonies and lay eggs, they don’t control the
colony. Worker ants take on specialized roles like brood care and
foraging, with older ants handling riskier tasks. Ants communicate
through pheromones and use impressive navigation skills. Some
species, like the Argentine and fire ants, thrive in new
environments due to human transport, forming super colonies.
Susanne’s current research focuses on how ants regulate labor
division and how parasites impact their behavior and
longevity.
Guest Bio
Dr. Susanne Foitzik is a professor of evolutionary biology,
Vice Dean of the biology faculty, and Acting Director of the
Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolutionary Biology at
Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. She has held
academic positions at Ludwig Maximilian University, the University
of Regensburg, and as a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State
University. With a doctoral degree in biology and a habilitation in
zoology, Susanne is widely published and the author of Empire of
Ants: The Hidden Worlds and Extraordinary Lives of Earth’s Tiny
Conquerors, a captivating exploration of ant behavior and
ecology.
Show Notes
- (2:12) How many species of ants there are
- (3:46) The role of ant queens and how they’re made
- (5:55) The different functions ants take on in the colony
- (9:01) How nests are created
- (11:02) How ants communicate and navigate
- (16:01) How certain ants have developed the ability to maintain livestock and how they do it
- (19:01) Ants’ more aggressive behaviors
- (22:34) What turns ants into “zombies”
- (25:34) The social immune system of ants
- (28:42) Invasive species of ants
- (32:39) Understanding ant-tink
- (34:31) What Susanne is working on now
Links Referenced
- Empire of Ants: The Hidden Worlds and Extraordinary Lives of Earth’s Tiny Conquerors: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowers-Six-Legs-Hidden-Lives/dp/1615197125