Ants have mastered the art of cooperation. They have highly organized social structures, caste systems, and with everything they do, they do for the colony. They are in a sense, a superorganism with each ant contributing to benefit of colony, like cells in a functioning body.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
Works Cited
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Boomsma, Jacobus. “The Brainy Origin of Superorganismal Development.” Ecology & Evolution Community, 2 Sept. 2020, ecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/40176-the-brainy-origin-of-superorganismal-development.
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Dorit, Robert. “The Superorganism Revolution.” American Scientist, 2014, www.americanscientist.org/article/the-superorganism-revolution. Accessed 19 Aug. 2023.
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Keim, Brandon. “Superorganism as Window Into Complexity and Evolution.” WIRED, 14 Feb. 2008, www.wired.com/2008/02/superorganism-a.
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Mirsky, Steve. “Individual Versus Group in Natural Selection.” Scientific American, 18 Dec. 2008, www.scientificamerican.com/article/whats-good-for-the-group/#:~:text=Yet%20Charles%20Darwin%20himself%20argued,level%20was%20on%20the%20outs.
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Pull, Christopher D., and Dino P. McMahon. “Superorganism Immunity: A Major Transition in Immune System Evolution.” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 8, Frontiers Media, June 2020, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00186.
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Quanta Magazine. “Edward O. Wilson on the Evolution of Social Behaviors.” YouTube, 15 May 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8m68w_ehg.
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Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers. “Them! (1954) Official Trailer #1 – Sci-Fi Horror Movie.” YouTube, 23 Oct. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4URRp39XOo.
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Web of Stories – Life Stories of Remarkable People. “EO Wilson – ‘The Ants’ (7/15).” YouTube, 10 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu-0TvGmC6w.
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Wilson, David Sloan, and Edward O. Wilson. “Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology.” The Quarterly Review of Biology, vol. 82, no. 4, University of Chicago Press, Dec. 2007, pp. 327–48. https://doi.org/10.1086/522809.
Music in this Episode
- Winjammer by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
- Mute Groove by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
- Memory Wind by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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