Familiar Diversions
I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.
Currently reading
Reading progress update: I've read 102 out of 234 pages.
Part III has whole chapters focused on a single species of ant (edit: or genus, I guess?) and is so far my favorite part of the book. Right now I'm in the chapter on Cataglyphis ants, desert ants with excellent navigation skills. They can't rely on scent trails, so they use their eyes.
"So, like bees and some spiders, desert ants have a virtual compass in their heads. They have eyes that are able to analyse the polarization of light, a phenomenon produced by the diffusion of sunlight by molecules in the earth's atmosphere which the human eye cannot perceive. Ants, however, can, since their eyes contain receptors which are sensitive to ultraviolet radiation. This has been proved by fitting some navigators with contact lenses that absorb only green light (yes, believe it or not, it has been done), with the result that the ants, deprived of their ability to detect the ultraviolet, lose their way."
One thing I wish the book would do a little more often is include details about how we're able to know what we know about ants. This detail about the ant contact lenses is nice.
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