Customer Reviews

NOVA: Ants - Little Creatures Who Run the World

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If you are completely unfamiliar with ants then this movie will be informative- other wise its a let down. The movie does depict the very far diversity of ant life and the range of environments they live in and again, if you have no previous knowledge about ants then Ants will be very enlightening.

Unfortunately, the movie is so very broad that it covers no species of ant in depth. I've watched a handful of Discovery-type documentaries on ants and was eager to learn more, but learned absolutely nothing new from this. The film focuses more on the give and take of a social insect society than on the ants themselves.

I was very excited to recieve this DVD for christmas but after sitting through it once will never watch it again.

NOVA: Ants--Little Creatures Who Rule the World; Green Umbrella Ltd. For WGBH; c1995; 54 minutes.

NOVA's Paula Apsell has stated that the story line makes the program. This NOVA does not follow that rule and thus is closer to a superficial classroom exposition. It misses many opportunities to be both interesting and educational, and the narration contains a small number of errors.

Ants outnumber humans by a million-to-one. And worldwide, they are roughly equal to our weight. Harvard University's renowned entomologist E.O. Wilson is the on-screen personality although narrator Bill Mason carries most of the script. First insects are described as occurring in the "Age of Coal" (Carboniferous) although in truth, the first insects occurred at least as far back as the Devonian. Large dragonflies are described but without explanation of why they are not that big today (lower oxygen levels now). Solitary wasps are shown as the first step toward sociality, although the sequence of steps toward true sociality are not described. It also states ants lost their wings in this evolution, which is not so (winged ants are shown later in this video). Primitive cockroach-to-termite evolution is nicely shown, although the different nature of their sociality is not mentioned (they are not haplo-diploid). Nice view of an ant being trapped in tree resin, called "sap" in the video. The ant preserved in amber is nearly identical to a modern species. Workers are described as sisters although without the critical fact that they are closer related to their queen's offspring than they would be to their own if they were not sterile. Antiseptics are secreted to clean "grubs" although larvae is the better term ("grubs" usually being used for beetle larvae). Excellent footage is provided of queens and males emerging from harvester ant nests. Use of the word "encouraged" is anthropomorphic; workers may assist the emergence but the purposefulness of "encourage" is incorrect. Ant mating is briefly viewed. Huge wood ant mounds in northern forests melt early from ant metabolism. Desert ants are shown navigating by the sun but the polarization involved is not mentioned. The term "selfless devotion" is again inappropriately used when the ant cooperation for the good of the nest is actually evolution-driven "calculated selfishness." E.O. Wilson takes a handful of sifted rainforest soil and notes the thousands of invertebrates and millions of bacteria he holds. Chemical communication becomes a theme for the next minutes as Wilson uses an extract of ant glands to draw a line that leads fire ants across a board. Termites likewise communicate by chemicals. Wilson breaks into a nest of termites in a tree and a sequence of soldiers, then workers appear to mend the hole, shown in time lapse. The rivalry between ants and termites is illustrated. Kenyan raid ants attack a termite nest. "Driver ants" march and attack a large slug. Birds feed on the frenzy of insects fleeing before the ants. The preying mantis is overwhelmed and dissected. Ants are shown cleaning out nest debris. Honeypot ants from Arizona are shown in competition with neighboring nests. "Herdsman ants" of Malaysia "farm" treehoppers for their honeydew and nest in the bamboo stem; sheltering "mother" bugs. The cecropia plant provides food and shelter for ants that then protect the plant. About half of U.S. woodland plant seeds are planted by ants. Again, the terminology "unselfish as ever" mis-characterizes the ants. "Hanging gardens of Amazonia" and "Gardens of the Devil" are also ant-plant constructions. Ants use formic acid to kill unwanted plants. Leafcutter ants cut and carry leaf segments to nests. Wilson compares them to a cow in appetite and notes they turn over more soil than do earthworms. Nevertheless, evolution works out a balance between ants and resources. At the end, E.O. Wilson describes how their society and ours is not the same at all. Ants are programmed to benefit the group while we cooperate only to the extent it benefits individuals. The last scene pans down from New York where the Twin Towers were still standing in 1995 to the junk yard where ants dominate.

Use of this video for educational purposes should have a biologist on stand-by to elaborate where the video should have gone and to correct the items noted above. A better ant video, although missing the philosophical statements, is: "Astonishing Army Ants: The Most Important Predators in Neotropical Forests" by Carl Rettenmeyer (© 2006) by University of Connecticut, although not readily available commercially.

This program is fascinating. It delves into the social behaviors of various species of ants. How they work, travel and rule their world. The section on army ants is especially good. Nothing that lives dares stand in their way when they are on the hunt. Ants truly are the little creatures who run the world.

A bit disappointed.. I expected more. it is good but not excellent. I cannot use it as a reference.

If you haven't spent much time looking and studying ants, you will be amazed by the social organization and eco system niches different ant species have carved out for themselves. Seeing them outside now makes me look at them quite different.

This has really good information as far as the ants, which was really amazing. I do not believe in evolution as I am a Christian and believe in
creation by God. My husband and I would not recommend it as heartily but would solely for the information about the ants. The different kinds of the ants themselves was really amazing because we never knew there were so many. It was interesting to see how they live, also.