Ants of India  

BOOK REVIEW

TITLE: THE SUPERORGANISM

The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies

AUTHORS: Bert Holldobler & E. O. Wilson

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2009

PUBLISHER: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110

         Ants occupy a great variety of habitats, with about 12,000 known species worldwide. Their biomass exceeds that of all vertebrates combined. Their social organization is orchestrated by intricate chemical communication. As central players in many ecosystems their species composition gives an indication of ecosystem health and functioning; while some are purists reliant on undisturbed ecosystems, others are weeds or even invasive. Their abundance and varied ecological roles make them influential in agricultural ecosystems around the world. Amid growing concern about biodiversity loss, some ant species and communities are at risk of disappearing; some even appearing on the IUCN Red List, while some invasives contribute to the extinction of other creatures. Improved understanding of ants, how to identify them, where they live, what they do is therefore a vital task in sustainably developing our world. Perhaps the best befitting tribute to these has been paid by Holldobler and Wilson in their recently released book, “The Superorganism:The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies”. Both naturalists Wilson and Holldobler have devoted their life for study of these tiny creatures and the present book have brought the elegance, dedication and unselfish cooperation of these to the fore.

        The book is a masterpiece in its creation dealing with every possible aspect of ants. The ten chaptered manuscript clearly explains the supremacy of these social organisms in human dominated biosphere. In chapter one the authors are quite logical and rationale to prove their point that why the ants are considered as super-organisms. The simple and subtle comparison between humans and ants makes the text very interesting. Chapter two is devoted to the genetic social evolution discussing various aspects of natural selection, eusociality and ultimately the evolution of ants up to point of no return. From chapter three to five, authors deal exhaustively with the colony life cycle of ants, the division of labor, even worth reading for an amateur.

      Ants communicate by chemical signals and various types of such chemicals have been discovered so far. In chapter six an interesting and detailed account of these chemicals has been provided. Thus one can imagine from this account that why ants are so successful in colonising our earth and show highest degree of cooperation. How ants originated, what were the earlier primitive ants, these issues have been dealt in chapter seven and eight. The leaf-cutter ants which the authors have depicted as ultimate super-organisms and who have developed the art of agriculture much before it was invented by human civilization,  have been devoted a full chapter. Nest architecture and house hunting, how it is achieved has been dealt in chapter ten. The book contains well illustrated hand drawings apart from about 100 colour photographs to supplement the written text. The book is a marvellous creation on natural history and seems to be another contender for Pultizer prize; as the book “The Ants” by same authors did in 1990; as rightly stated by Thomas E. Lovejoy “Riveting exploration of insect societies, a triumph by two of our great naturalists”. Finally, its makes the book more captivating as the authors at the end confess to disagree leaving the reader to contemplate and think more of natural history. Next time you encounter this on shelf, grab it and read it, probably you won’t find a better stuff than this.

Dr.Himender Bharti,
Department of Zoology,
Punjabi University Patiala,
Punjab, India,147002
Web: www.antdiversityindia.com
Email:himender_bharti@yahoo.com/himenderbharti@antdiversityindia.com/