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Inside the ant colony - Deborah M. Gordon

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  • 5,787 Questions Answered
  • TEDEd Animation

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Ants have one of the most complex social organizations in the animal kingdom; they live in structured colonies that contain different types of members who perform specific roles. Sound familiar? Deborah M. Gordon explains the way these incredible creatures mate, communicate and source food, shedding light on how their actions can mimic and inform our own behavior.


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TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Deborah M. Gordon
  • Director Steve Belfer
  • Animator Michelle Tessier, James Jacob
  • Compositor Eva Branellec
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
Additional Resources for you to Explore
At this link, you can find the following:

1. TED Talk introducing this experiment
2. Instructions to do this experiment with different species of ants
3. Instructional video
4. Coming soon: a website to enter data, so that users can compare results from different species

Customize this lesson

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Deborah M. Gordon
  • Director Steve Belfer
  • Animator Michelle Tessier, James Jacob
  • Compositor Eva Branellec
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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