When you're an ant but also a fungus tycoon - Charles Wallace
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TEDEd Animation
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In a Texas clearing, an ancient tale that ties four species together is unfurling. The first involved is a soon-to-be queen leafcutter ant. The second is fungus, a piece of which she scoops into her mouth pocket. The third are cockroaches, which nestle under her wings. And the fourth is the one that threatens them all. Charles Wallace takes a look inside the ant colony as a queen begins her reign.
When she founds her new colony, the queen will lay some infertile eggs, which she then consumes. Later, when she has workers, they will sometimes lay infertile eggs for her to eat. Why would the queen eat these eggs, and why would these ants deliberately lay infertile ones?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Charles Wallace
- Director Charlotte Arene
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Storyboard Artist Charlotte Arene
- Animator Charlotte Arene
- Compositor Charlotte Arene
- Art Director Charlotte Arene
- Composer André Aires
- Sound Designer André Aires
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Producer Anna Bechtol
- Associate Producer Abdallah Ewis
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Editorial Producer Cella Wright
