Fire Ants Have Gotten a Bum Rap, Researcher Says

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The first sentence of the first chapter of Walter Tschinkel's new book says it all: "I love fire ants."

Tschinkel, a Florida State University myrmecologist - a biologist who specializes in ants - has spent 35 years studying red imported fire ants, aggressive stinging insects that most Southerners consider a pest of the first order if not an outright scourge.

Tschinkel takes exception to that notion in "The Fire Ants." The 723-page epic, published by Harvard University Press, intersperses hard science about a complex and alien species with breezy "interludes" on his fire-ant adventures and those of other researchers.

"The fire ant has been accused of almost every heinous act that people have been able to imagine, typically without any careful experimentation," Tschinkel said in an interview. "So there is this tendency to believe fire ants are capable of doing almost anything nasty." 

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Source: www.Journalnow.com