The documentary, Lord of the Ants, is a NOVA production for PBS that discusses the accomplishments of E. O. Wilson, an entomologist. Written, produced, and directed by David Dugan, the program is engrossing. It offers a compelling portrait of E. O. Wilson, a biodiversity advocate, sociobiology founder, and an entomologist. Wilson is regarded as the architect of the controversial new discipline, Sociobiology, as well as the icon of our times: a lord of the ants. This is because he sought to explain nature on earth. We see this throughout the documentary which provides a chronological sweep of the life and work of Wilson, from his youth interest with nature to the contentions encompassing his 1975 book of Sociobiology: the New Synthesis and his latest works on biodiversity. Comments from the narrator, Harrison Ford, Wilson himself, and his scientific supporters and critics provide re-enactments of Wilson’s childhood and early career.
Lord of the Ants provides a detailed understanding of myrmecology, the study of ants. The documentary provides stunning close-ups of the insect world and footages covering the field trips as well as laboratory works of Wilson. Throughout the film, Wilson stresses the need to protect biodiversity by preserving all the animal species. Having sought to explain nature, Wilson digs around dirt, letting himself to be stung by fire ants. His childhood enactment encourages the natural world encouraged him to approach science from a naturalist perspective, which won him accolades and derision. At the age of thirteen, Wilson was praised for identifying fire ants that had migrated from South America to Alabama. In his early days at Harvard, Wilson’s approach to science was seen as “stamp collecting” as well as out of touch.
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Wilson’s scientific “eureka moment” came after discovering that ants “communicate” with one other by exuding chemicals. This scientific discovery placed him closer to the scientific mainstream and influenced his future work. Wilson realized that this behavior of the ants exuding chemical to communicate is encoded in their genes. Having realized this, Wilson set himself a daunting task to determine whether it holds true for animals including humans. From this insight, Harrison Ford, the narrator, notes, “Ed Wilson set himself a daunting task” to investigate the origins of all animal behavior, from ants to monkeys, right through to the most social of all primates, humans. He even invented a name for his new discipline: Sociobiology” (Alvarado, 2016). He wrote a book, Sociobiology: a New Synthesis.
Wilson’s book Sociobiology: the New Synthesis , sparked debate and criticism from human right activists and sociologists. The publication resulted in a heated debate about the role genes play in defining human behavior. Social biology is a field of scientific study based on the idea that social behavior has a biological basis. This suggestion had a strong association with the scientific racism and eugenics movements in the nineteenth and twentieth century respectively. He coined the term Biophilia which suggests that humans tend to have an inmate and genetically determined affinity with the natural world. In the book, Wilson extends his idea to human where he states that humans are a result of evolutionary genetics. His work made him be strongly criticized; he even had protestors who held banners condemning sociobiology and him. There was even a point where the protestors took over the stage and poured ice over his head before he went to give a speech.
In his book, Wilson discusses the behavioral patterns of animals. It is fascinating to study ants given that they live in highly complex societies. They communicate by exuding chemicals since they cannot see or hear. The chemicals they exude depends on the message they want to convey — some signal for food, danger, or even their status within their caste system. Ants also leave behind an odor when they die to signal other ants to discard the body. Having realized that ants exude chemicals to communicate is encoded in genes, he delved at investigating if it holds true for animals, including humans. He traveled together with his former colleague to a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico. They studied primates and termites, and they witnessed the same habits and communications. Through this study, Wilson came up with a unified theory of animal social structures.
From the study, Wilson also realized the negative impact of human activities on animal species. He used an island experiment to prove that species cannot be regained once their habitats are destroyed. Using a mangrove island as a model, he studied the succession of the island after fumigating it. He discovered that the species that reoccupied the island were completely different though an equilibrium was gained. From this experiment, he proved that species could not be regained in their same habitats once their habitat is destroyed.
The film provides adequate information regarding the life and work of Wilson though it lacks adequate transition from the controversy over social biology to the controversy over biodiversity. The documentary also does fail to explain how Wilson became a “celebrity” despite being chastised for his views. Despite being criticized, Wilson kept working to achieve his goals. The world has to be open to new ideas and discoveries, given that Wilson’s discoveries, which were previously criticized, proved that many things are influenced by genetics. Humans are destroying the environment which we are required to look after. Destroying the environment negatively affects species which makes them continue to go extinct. Therefore, we have to unite and ensure that we preserve our environment to protect world species. This can be achieved by pooling information about the species of the world and saving them in databases to help us understand them better and also help preserve them. This is because it is our duty to preserve them.
References
Alvarado, K. (2016). E. O. Wilson Lord of the Ants. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq7hHP-2fP8 . Accessed 27 th March 2019.
