<p>Red wood worker ants forage up to 50 meters from their nest to collect a natural resin found dripping from pine trees. In a behavior unique to wood ants, individual ants walk over the resin to disinfect themselves from bacteria and fungi. Additionally, they also eat aphid honeydew, small insects, and arachnids. Red wood ants are commonly used in forestry and often introduced into an area as a form of pest management.</p>
<p>The red wood ants are currently a protected species and are categorized as “near threatened” by the IUCN. Many of the animals on O'Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world. To learn more about how you can help, go to <ahref="http://animals.oreilly.com/">animals.oreilly.com</a>.</p>
<p>The red wood ants are currently a protected species and are categorized as “near threatened” by the IUCN. Many of the animals on O'Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world.</p>
<p>The cover illustration is by Karen Montgomery, based on a black-and-white engraving from a loose plate, origin unknown. The cover fonts are Gilroy Semibold and Guardian Sans. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag's Ubuntu Mono.</p>
kristen@oreilly.com
3 years ago