NOVA: Ants - Little Creatures Who Run the World
by Nick Upton
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DVD details
Actor: Edward O. WilsonDirector: Nick Upton
Brand: Wgbh Wholesale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 54 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
Product features:
- From vast underground caverns, working armies pour forth to defend their highly structured communal way of life. Are these feudal societies in the Middle Ages? No, they're ants! NOVA looks at the most successful life forms on the face of the planet in Ants: Little Creatures Who Run the World, hosted by Harvard University's internationally renowned ant authority, naturalist Edward O. Wil
DVD Reviews of NOVA: Ants - Little Creatures Who Run the World
DVD Review: A Little NOVA That Missed the Mark
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
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