Ant Architecture: The Wonder, Beauty, and Science of Underground Nests

by Walter R Tschinkel

An unprecedented look at the complex and beautiful world of underground ant architecture



Walter Tschinkel has spent much of his career investigating the hidden subterranean realm of ant nests. This wonderfully illustrated book takes you inside an unseen world where thousands of ants build intricate homes in the soil beneath our feet.

Tschinkel describes the ingenious methods he has devised to study ant nests, showing how he fills a nest with plaster, molten metal, or wax and painstakingly excavates the cast. He guides you through living ant nests chamber by chamber, revealing how nests are created and how colonies function. How does nest architecture vary across species? Do ants have architectural plans? How do nests affect our environment? As he delves into these and other questions, Tschinkel provides a one-of-a-kind natural history of the planet's most successful creatures and a compelling firsthand account of a life of scientific discovery.

Offering a unique look at how simple methods can lead to pioneering science, Ant Architecture addresses the unsolved mysteries of underground ant nests while charting new directions for tomorrow's research, and reflects on the role of beauty in nature and the joys of shoestring science.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Natural History

248 pages, Hardcover

First published June 22, 2021

Reviews

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ant Architecture shows how you can do groundbreaking research on a shoestring budget. Beautifully illustrated and phenomenally written, this is unlike any other book on insects you have seen before. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...

[Debashree Tagore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly fascinating read that is so much more than its title suggests. While the name might make you think it is based solely on the engineering marvels of ants, it is, in fact, a much broader and more profound exploration of ant lives. The book delves deep into their behaviors, their social structures, their lifecycles, and the countless unique adaptations that makes you realize that no matter how small an organism is, it possesses a unique and intricate existence that deserves our attention, and needs someone like Tschinkel to begin unearthing (here both literally and figuratively) such fascinating lives.
What I found most inspiring about this book wasn't just the ants themselves, but the story of the science behind their study, how dedicated scientists pursue questions that might initially seem trivial through relentless work, persistence, and ingenuity. While some of the detailed descriptions of experimental methods or the long list of specific species names might be a bit challenging to follow, it's a highly recommended read for anyone with an interest in nature. 4.6/5

[Leon Trick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great dive into the function and form of ant nests and the into the mind and methods of the man that documented and studied them. I would love to know the theories Tschinkel and his team tested as to why Florida Harvester ants “decorate” their nest disks with charcoal. I understand the book is mainly concerned with the subterranean parts of the nest, but the detail about the rings was fascinating nonetheless. “Ant Architecture” as a title doesn’t exactly describe the scope and the structure of the book which reads as a fuse between memoir and scientific literature. Tschinkel’s passion for his work and his eccentric nature are clear in this book, you may very well feel a connection to him and Pogonomyrmex badius after reading.

[Jade Short · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Went into the book expecting to find out some fascinating facts about ants, but instead got an experience following the scientific journey of this one dude studying ants with an array of experiments. Actually gives a really interesting perspective on how the fuck we even know anything about ants at all, concluding that, ultimately we know fuck all. I do wish there were some more juicy discoveries to balance the dud experiments, but it was still very interesting to follow along with the scientific method.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books like Dan Kurlansky’s Cod or The Heartbeat of Trees or The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wollheben. It contains fascinating information like those books, but is less of a story — there’s no real narrative arc to string all the information into something gripping rather than simply being a collection of interesting facts.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly fascinating!! 🐜