LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
We recently moved both tanks, with ants in residence, to our public exhibit area and linked them with a long elevated tubeway. The tanks were dressed with silk plants and vines, and the intervening space filled with live tropical vegetation. To complete the display, we added graphic artwork identifying colony members and brood stages, and interpretive text explaining Paraponera social organization, foraging and defensive behavior.
The exhibit's public début was July 24th, though for the bullet ant colony it was simply just another day in the pseudo-rainforest. Center stage, the queen laid eggs while countless workers busily tended the developing brood. To satisfy hungry offspring, foragers scurried from the nest, followed a jungle canopy trail to food sources, and returned home carrying struggling insect prey and glistening nectar droplets.
Public response was phenomenal. The gargantuan ants were prominently featured on all four local television news programs, and in both major newspapers, including a front page spread. Astonished Zoo visitors mobbed the display. Uncle Milton move over, we have the ultimate ant farm!

Over four years have passed since my first crude attempts to collect and culture bullet ants. But all my sweat and pain have been more than compensated by the gratification that I now feel. Insectarium visitors have a rare opportunity to intimately view, enjoy and learn about bullet ant colony life, and without braving the Amazon! What could be better than a safe perspective to watch "Them"?

Acknowledgments

Generous assistance was provided the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, International Expeditions, Explorama Tours, the ACEER Foundation and its Scientific Advisory Board, the United States Department of Agriculture, and Forestal y Fauna Silvestre-Peru National Institute of Natural Resources. Milan Busching, Karen Creamer and Theresa Austing assisted husbandry. Milan Busching and Ben Horton aided exhibit construction. Joyce Turner created artwork and Joanna Wright helped with exhibit design. Ron Austing provided photographs and Kathy Beil-Morgan offered useful manuscript comments.

Memorial Acknowledgment

In memory of dedicated Zoo volunteer Sue Peirce, exhibit funding was provided by the Cincinnati Zoo Volunteers' Organization and Friends.

Selected References

Breed, M.D. and Bennett, B. (1985): Mass recruitment to nectar sources in Paraponera clavata colonies: A field study. Insectes Sociaux 32:198-208.

Breed, M.D. and Harrison, J.M. (1988): Worker Size, Ovary Development and Division of Labor in the Giant Tropical Ant, Paraponera clavata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 61(3):285-291.

Hogue, C.L (1993): Latin American Insects and Entomology. University of California Press, Berkeley, 536 pp.

Hölldobler, B. and Wilson, E.O. (1990): The Ants. The Belknapp Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 732 pp.

Janzen, D.H. & Carroll, C.R. (1983): Paraponera clavata. In: Janzen, D.H. (ed.), Costa Rican Natural History, University of Chicago Press, pp.752-753.

Schmidt, J.O. (1990): Hymenoptera Venoms: Striving Toward the Ultimate Defense Against Vertebrates. In: Insect Defenses, Adaptive Mechanisms and Strategies of Prey and Predators (Evans D.L. & Schmidt, J.O.; eds.). State University of New York Press, Albany, pp. 387-419.

Figure 1: Giant bullet ant Paraponera clavata forager bringing home the bacon.
Figure 2: An intimate view of bullet ant colony life at the Cincinnati Zoo Insectarium.