“Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants”

Posted at July 4, 2009

Humans are not the only species on Earth that hunt, farm and fight for resources. Some ants grow their own food, just like farmers. Other ants build highways that can be seen from the air. Some large ant colonies go to war with each other. Explore the fascinating world of ants in “Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants” which opened May 30, at the National Museum of Natural History and will continue through Oct. 10.

The exhibition features 39 incredible close-up photographs by Mark W. Moffett, photographer and Smithsonian research associate. “Ants” also includes a live leaf-cutter ant colony from the lab of Ted Schultz, the museum’s curator of ants, as well as a 6-foot-tall cast of an underground ant colony that was collected by Walter Tschinkel, who studies ant-nest architecture at Florida State University. More than 20 ant species are represented in Moffett’s photographs, including a weaver ant scouting the tree canopy in search of food, marauder ants overwhelming and killing a frog for food, a fire ant and an Argentine ant fighting over a dead grasshopper and a bulldog ant tending larvae. Moffett has been exploring and documenting the world of ants since his childhood, from his backyard in Wisconsin to the fields and jungles of Asia and South America. With an abundance of curiosity and a strong sense of adventure, he goes to where the ants live and waits patiently.

“I use my camera as a microscope to watch ants,” said Moffett. “The trick is not to be seen, to catch the ant in everyday behavior. You may only get one chance. Like any animal, ants are easiest to photograph when preoccupied.” The exhibition is made possible through the Windland Smith Rice Nature’s Best Photography Fund.

The National Museum of Natural History is located at 10th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Watch a related video on ants