Field Notes: Kidnapper Ants (Patreon)

We're big fans of ants here at Deep Look, so much so that we're working on our third video about these fascinating insects. (ICYMI: Watch "Where Are the Ants Carrying All Those Leaves?" and "The Double-Crossing Ants to Whom Friendship Means Nothing".)

Our lead producer and cinematographer Josh Cassidy recently spent several days filming "kidnapper ants" at Sagehen Creek Field Station with graduate student Kelsey Scheckel and postdoctoral scholar Elizabeth Cash. They're both a part of Neil Tsutsui's lab at the University of California, Berkeley, where they research how kidnapper ants communicate with each other using chemicals. 

These parasitic ants steal other ants' young and use them as a captive workforce. Kelsey and Elizabeth are shown here keeping a watchful eye out for one of their raids, when the ants will collect their hosts' pupae, to begin.

This episode will premiere next month – and will be our 100th video!