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Tagged With: ants

Get buzzing for Biology Week and the 24 Hour Lecture

Philippa Skett is an intern with the Society of Biology, who sometimes gets to watch YouTube videos as part of her job. With the 24 Hour Lecture taking place this evening, get yourself ready with her and Professor Adam Hart’s pick of buzzing videos of ants and bees.  Giant honeybees: These bees are brave enough to … Continue reading »

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Run for your life: the Saharan silver ant

Guest post by Mel Evans, a student at the University of Gloucestershire. Read carefully – hidden in here is an answer to one of the pub quiz questions which will be asked during Professor Adam Hart’s 24 hour lecture On the surface, ants don’t always seem like the most extreme of animals. Not so with … Continue reading »

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Can gulls get drunk on ants?

Rebecca Nesbit from the Society of Biology has been working on the flying ant survey On Friday I received a phone call asking ‘are seagulls in Devon acting weirdly because of flying ants?’. The answer was very likely yes – flying ant day is a special day for gulls, and for many people the excited … Continue reading »

Categories: Conservation, Nature, Royal Society of Biology | Tags: , , | 17 Comments

The many nests of the hairy wood ant

Guest blog from Samuel Ellis, a PhD student at the University of York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis There are an estimated 22,000 species of ants, and it is likely that the weight of ants on the planet is greater than the weight of humans. They are very important to ecosystems all over the world … Continue reading »

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Flying ant facts

Rebecca Nesbit, Society of Biology Submit your flying ant sightings! We have had an overwhelming response to our flying ant survey and some very interesting questions about flying ants. So I thought I’d bring them all together, along with a couple of videos of ‘my’ flying ant colonies in Hertfordshire. You can also read about … Continue reading »

Categories: Royal Society of Biology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

How does an ant decide what to do?

We eat when we’re hungry, but social insects have to make decisions which will support the colony not just themselves. They typically divide labour as well as reproductive duties. Even in ant species such as Lasius niger where workers are not split into different physical ‘castes’, some workers stay in the nest while others leave … Continue reading »

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Species of the week: the black garden ant

To coincide with the launch of our flying ant survey, Christina Catlin-Groves from the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has written a guest blog with little-known facts about these well-known ants. Also known as the pavement ant, the black garden ant (Lasius niger) is the most common ant seen in towns and gardens. They nest almost anywhere, … Continue reading »

Categories: Royal Society of Biology, Species of the week | Tags: , , , , , , | 7 Comments