The Young Ones TV - David Attenborough TV - Natural World TV - E O Wilson - Proverbs 6:6 - Stanley J Sharpless - Planet Ant TV - Horace - Monty Python’s Flying Circus TV - In Search of … TV - Simon Reeve TV -
Do you think ants go to discos? The Young Ones: Summer Holiday ***** Vyvyan to Mike in garden, BBC 1984
Leafcutter ants ... they are all members of one highly organised society. David Attenborough, Life in the Undergrowth V: Supersocieties, BBC 2005
Ants live almost anywhere. ibid.
There are a dozen or so species of mammals around the world that have specialized in living on ants and termites. David Attenborough, Life on Earth X: Theme & Variations, BBC 1979
Anteaters and Pangolins have different ancestors. David Attenborough, The Life of Mammals II: Insect Hunters ***** BBC 2002
Australia: green ants live in groups of up to half a million. David Attenborough, Micro Monsters V: Family, 2013
The workers use the silk to stitch the leaves together. ibid.
Several different acacias use ants as defenders. David Attenborough, The Private Life of Plants: Living Together, BBC 1995
It’s a metropolis. Home to millions of ants ... A single colony harvests half a ton of grass a year, more than any other animal on these plains. But since they themselves can’t eat it why do they do so? The answer lies underground ... This is a fungus that is found nowhere else on Earth. And the ants cultivate it assiduously ... They construct their nest so that it has an automatic air conditioning system. David Attenborough, Life e6: Insects, BBC 2009
The ant raid is an unequalled phenomenon. Over a million hunters chasing hundreds of species of prey animals. David Attenborough, The Hunt III: Hide and Seek (Forests), BBC 2015
The silver ant is the hardiest of all desert inhabitants. David Attenborough, Africa: Sahara, BBC 2013
If the silver ants were our size, they’d be doing 280 mph. ibid.
New York City’ ants: they are thriving because of junk food. David Attenborough, Planet Earth s3e7: Humans, BBC 2023
Pavement ants are so successful here that they outnumber human New Yorkers a thousand to one. ibid.
Arizona’s blistering summer has come to an earth-shattering end. This is the first rain to fall here in six months. It heralds the birth of a new empire. Imagine a world deep underground ruled by a ruthless queen. Over eight years she and her armies will unleash a reign of terror. Building an empire of epic proportions. Eliminating rivals with brutal efficiency. Natural World s30e2: Empire of the Desert Ants, BBC 2011
Many new nests contain two or three queens … the colony will become an instant superpower. ibid.
All ant workers are female and sterile. ibid.
The desert floor is littered with similar sized colonies and there’s not enough room for all of them. ibid.
Honey ants punch well above their weight. ibid.
The nest with the most firepower always wins. ibid.
Over 180 ant species are found here. ibid.
A gruesome and ignominious end for this once great ruler … The nest emptied. ibid.
A species of ant known as the Jack Jumper … they rely on acute vision. They sting their victims to death with a venom that can kill humans. Natural World: Tasmania s38e8: Weird & Wonderful, BBC 2019
Ants are the dominant insects of the world, and they’ve had a great impact on habitats almost all over the land surface of the world for more than fifty million years. E O Wilson
Go to the ant thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Proverbs 6:6
cf.
‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard;
Consider her ways, and be wise.’
Well, I’ve been to the ant, and I’m buggered
If I think it’s one up on us guys;
All that rushing about is silly,
(And uneconomic, I bet),
I’d rather consider the lily,
It’s got Solomon beat – and no sweat. Stanley J Sharpless, Go to the Ant
Nature’s most extraordinary creatures: ants ... We’ve always drawn parallels between their world and ours. Planet Ant: Inside the Colony, BBC 2013
Leafcutter ants despite their name don’t eat leaves: they bring them into the nest as a food supply for this fungus – and it’s the fungus they eat. ibid.
Floating on the Amazon river is a wonder of the animal world ... a seething mass of ants – the fire ant ... an entire ant colony can join together as one large raft built from their own bodies. ibid.
They are all sisters ... All the eggs the queen lays are essentially the same. ibid.
For example, the tiny ant, a creature of great industry, drags with its mouth whatever it can, and adds it to the heap which she is piling up, not unaware nor careless of the future. Horace
I’m interested in buying an ant. Monty Python’s Flying Circus s4e2: Michael Ellis, BBC 1974
Today, a high aggressive often deadly breed of ant threatens to spread like a plague throughout much of the United States. In Search of s2e22 … Deadly Ants, History 1978
Green ants’ nest tea – it’s smoky and citrusy, it’s pretty tasty. Australia with Simon Reeve II, BBC 2020