Ants: Nature's Secret Power

Ants: Nature's Secret Power

2006, Nature  -   74 Comments
8.55
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Ratings: 8.55/10 from 256 users.

In this documentary we will be transported into the world of ants through the eyes of Bert Hölldobler, a world authority on these amazing animals.

What animal has achieved immortality? What animal is the most warlike? What animal has the greatest supercity on the planet? Not man but ants.

They are the real success story. It is only their tiny size and our vanity that allows us to hold onto the myth of our supremacy. Ants rule the planet. They are found in more habitats from far northern Finland to the sweltering tropics.

The largest colony known of these insects is in Japan, where 306 million ants, with 1 million queens, in 45,000 colonies spread over 270 hectares.

The fiercest warriors on earth are the slave maker ants. Other ants have barracks and sentry posts to protect themselves against surprise attack.

Bert Hölldobler, friend of world renowned scientist Edward Wilson, is a world authority on these amazing animals. He has dedicated his life, traveling around the world, to understand them.

Through his eyes and his words we will be transported into the world of the ants. A world more wonderful and bizarre than any science fiction. "Ants" will reveal this alien world for the first time, in the company of a true authority and enthusiast.

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Daniel Zamorski
Daniel Zamorski
4 years ago

Exxcellent...Highly recommend this documentary

Reggie
Reggie
4 years ago

Working as a Collective reminds me of the Borg !!

bluetortilla
bluetortilla
8 years ago

In contrast with ants, humans are at each other's throats to the point where TDF mods decided to get rid of reply and editing. Maybe Payne (I believe it was) et al were right in observing that government was far too fragile to be left to the common person. lol
If we were more like ants...

bluetortilla
bluetortilla
8 years ago

Yes, amazing. You know though, that humans are even more 'aliens' than the ants with all prodding and experimenting. Is that what aliens will do with us? hmmm....

Lana Lee
Lana Lee
9 years ago

I was amazed by the footage and the facts on these ants. Mind-blowing. Staggering. Impressive. I have a new-found respect for all ant species. Excellent documentary!

Chandan Cm
Chandan Cm
10 years ago

I'm a student of University of Mysore, India. I'm planning for documentary on Common Black Ants, any hand to help?

Hollis Evon Ramsey
Hollis Evon Ramsey
11 years ago

ants are nature's vacuum cleaners, they are essential elements of nature -- an elemental force to be reckoned with. i am so amazed by what they can do. i have one question, though -- do ants sleep, or rest at all? just watching them do their thing is exhausting!

John A. Smith
John A. Smith
11 years ago

Ants are the best insects - they work together for the common good of their colony.

Lovro Šari? Kora?evi?
Lovro Šari? Kora?evi?
11 years ago

I laughed every 3 minutes :'D
Nature has a very honest sense of humor.

Edward Campbell
Edward Campbell
11 years ago

Any one who liked this documentary should watch 'PHASE VI' (1974). A fascinating scifi film where the Ant Empire Strikes Back..! A real cult classic. It's where the ants do to people what we do to them. All in real scale and believable too.

Gary Wang
Gary Wang
11 years ago

I have i can donate some of my allowance to your station. thanks for sharing

Sweetjohnnydalton
Sweetjohnnydalton
11 years ago

Ants have always creeped me the hell out, there sneaky, determend, and worst of all mobile.

Annamukpo
Annamukpo
11 years ago

i love ants i youst to flip roks ove and put them in a jar

ProudinUS
ProudinUS
11 years ago

When I was a kid in elementary school, some of us went out for recess and collected all the red ants we could find and put them in a glass milk jug with some dirt and watch them do their thing. Highly organized. With each ant hustling to dig out there home.It was awesome to watch......once in awhile I'd throw in some catipiller just to show their sinister side.

Ryan Fulford
Ryan Fulford
12 years ago

******* awesome! ants are amazing creatures! chemical communication? thats crazy talk!

Classic Ichaï
Classic Ichaï
12 years ago

i didnt like what they have done to the ant city=(

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Centrifuge Ant is my new hero. This is wonderful.

Maximus
Maximus
12 years ago

much of nature (and ants) has been destroyed in this documentary. the science is strong with them

Mirjam Fašmon
Mirjam Fašmon
12 years ago

whow it's so very interesting :D only the music is awkward sometimes - it makes me feel like ants are superheroes ;)

wheelnut53
wheelnut53
12 years ago

If the video is no longer available why is it still listed here . Its a real let down when I get my popcorn and soft drink sit down and find out what I was looking forward to viewing is not possible .

Aaylsworth
Aaylsworth
12 years ago

Excellent! Insightful, revealing and entertaining! The best ant Doc I have seen yet :)

Hassan Abd El Fattah
Hassan Abd El Fattah
12 years ago

mind blowing and amazing

H Neil Sangte S
H Neil Sangte S
12 years ago

lol i use to observe this tiny people a lot..i remember thinking once damn why cant ppl make a proper doc only on ants...i loved the animated one too..:[)

Vishal Patel
Vishal Patel
12 years ago

must see this documentary must must watchable

you feel god make many amazing things

jay swaminarayan

Lynne Gordon
Lynne Gordon
12 years ago

Absolutely AMAZING! I have to tweet this website! I think it is the best thing I've ever found online! PERIOD!

Michael Danger Gee
Michael Danger Gee
12 years ago

excellent, i recommend this!!

Victor Ho
Victor Ho
12 years ago

i like this very much ...... ^o^ gundam36sf

Stan Eicher
Stan Eicher
12 years ago

When I was a kid I watched a massive ant chew it's own leg off to escape from a ring of hardened hot-glue I had put around it's path. The ant ran off with 5 legs.

I thought of this when the grass-cutters just burned to death while they worked. They had zero motivation to save themselves-- only to keep cutting the damn grass, and then the rest of them got lost on the way back.

It's weird how different species behave when faced with danger. It seemed to me that the grass-cutters really screwed the colony over by not getting their asses back to the nest. I wonder if being alone triggers an instinct in them to persevere as individuals, and then that shuts off once they get back to the community.

S***, you would think they'd have developed a chemical smoke detector. The mealy worm farmers can detect when its going to f***ing rain and still have enough time to get their herd to safety.
Yeah, it's some guy setting fire to his own field, but still.

Stan Eicher
Stan Eicher
12 years ago

That grass-cutter colony is amazing!10 tons of cement...damn. The acorn town is cool, too.

And wtf was up with that bear? It was not his day.

god I love ants.

Karenwasherefirst
Karenwasherefirst
12 years ago

Extraordinary creature, but when do they enjoy life?

His Forever
His Forever
12 years ago

I got to the part where they said that ants were the ones that truly ruled the world (world power) and I openly scoffed a bit, then I purposely looked around and sure enough! THREE of the little "earth rulers" were not just in my house (which I utterly detest), but on the very computer table I was using to watch the video! The super tiny little red one are so horribly hard to get rid of!

In fact, now that I'm looking, I see hundred of them on the floor, on the wall! One just crawled acroos the computer screen itself. Good grief; they really do rule the world, or at least my house! :-(

I think ants are truly facinating, but I only like ants OUTSIDE my house.

documentaries
documentaries
12 years ago

God is AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Jack1952
Jack1952
13 years ago

I loved the ant treadmill.

jubbs_sher
jubbs_sher
13 years ago

Did they kill the whole ant colony upon filling it with concrete?! Hope not. Maybe this is how humans should run their societies!

lequebecois385
lequebecois385
13 years ago

""Maybe their is no such thing as being a "Human" a "Me" , a man or a woman.
No Rocks, no Plants, no Apes, no Ants , no Bugs, no Computers, no Machines;
No Stars;
No GOD, no wind would be necessary

If Only "I" or "WE" Humans were exsisting""
So "I" surely came before the rest.

OUCH, the livings cells in my brain are smashing against each other.

"JE" pense donc Je suis:
-Maxime-

lequebecois385
lequebecois385
13 years ago

Wow what a nice "concrete" ants metropolis!

I feel the same: I mean a little bad. About invading those aliens ants. But i think it as been done properly as ourselfs being giants aliens invaders invading nano-alien civilisations, witch sometimes invade my own House. I liked the non-semetrical architectur witch is i think much much more technicaly advanced than our own. Probably because they are building since millions of years on the same planet.

I think the lab research is very very very less usfull and no respect for nature itself. I'm not sure they've learn anything else.

I saw an other docu. on machines and tech. of the futur and that makes me think of a theory;

What if all bugs or insects, especially ants were some kind of
(cyborg-human-aliens-nano-machines), lol

Acting perfectly! Like computers or programs, but with no emotions, no thautght, no self-awerness, no intelligence, no feelings.
But! Much much much much much more advanced in some way. Living threw other catastrophies, other wolrlds maybe comming from somewhere else. Maybe thats why we need to study them and learn so many many things on them. Kind of an alien nano world that we are'nt sizing yet. I mean i'm not sure we are living on the same time scale and they are abviously not working with the same forces... They are obeing something else.

Color Vinette
Color Vinette
13 years ago

Amazing documentary on the secret lives of ants. My favorite part was when the researchers filled up an ant colony with liquid cement to reveal the complex ant city. Very ingenious although I felt bad for the ants who had lived there. Never-the-less what an amazing feat of engineering.

Special thanks to Vlatko for finding this great documentary.

PaulGloor
PaulGloor
13 years ago

I love ants !
I used to dig them up/turn over rocks and put em in those giant pickle jars and watch em for weeks, feeding them sugar water. Truly remarkable and varied creatures.

Clifton Richard
Clifton Richard
13 years ago

Ants are remarkably fascinating !

Mold and Mildew Removal
Mold and Mildew Removal
13 years ago

Great message.So true.

Shelby Sherman
Shelby Sherman
13 years ago

Ants rule, not humans with their puny, non-existent gods. We are bigger, but we are not better. They laugh at us from below.

John Reilly
John Reilly
13 years ago

Absolutely amazing and very humbling..

Guest
Guest
13 years ago

How is it known that ants evolved from wasp 100,000,000 years ago? And not the other way around, wasp evolving from ants?
Can someone clearify this for me.

And why did primates not evolved from humans instead of the other way around? May be unnitelligent human clans evolved into wild monkeys.
az

toddy
toddy
13 years ago

this was great. Sometimes I pretend to be "god" and pour a shot glass of sugar outside a ant hill.

Traian Totoescu
Traian Totoescu
13 years ago

This was awesome :)

esmuziq & frames
esmuziq & frames
13 years ago

whats a meli bug ?

Gwayne Li
Gwayne Li
13 years ago

Waaahhh... sometimes these kind of things occur to me... Human societies should be like this?

Awesome Doc. A bug lover once again pleased : )