THE stars of a new TV series have arrived in Scotland from the Caribbean – all one million of them.
Starting their journey in Trinidad and Tobago, the one million leaf-cutter ants have arrived in Glasgow, where they will have a home in the city's science centre as the stars of a new BBC Scotland documentary to be broadcast on BBC Four this year.
Planet Ant will focus on the lives of these insects, which flew in specially packed crates, as they form a new colony in the centre.
The one-off documentary will show how the ants gather leaves to make the fungus on which they depend, feeding it with freshly cut plants to keep it free from pests and moulds.
Technicians are busy at work creating the colony in the Futures Gallery of the science centre, underneath the Science tower.
Leaf-cutter ants are known for their incredibly complex colonies, their ability to carry objects many times their size, and for their high levels of organisation and adaptation.
BBC Scotland will create a nest in the centre of the tower eight feet high and 10 feet wide, with a passage cut through the middle so cameras and the public can walk through the middle of it.
The colony will be open on a limited basis to the public.
The ants are, in one sense, refugee or "rescue ants" as they were set to be destroyed in Trinidad because of their habit of attacking plant life and farming.
They will remain in Glasgow until the end of June, and then will depart to one of two locations, but will not be killed.
Graham Russell, the assistant producer and director of the show, said the programme will demonstrate to viewers the extraordinary organisation and life cycles of the ants.
As the leaf-cutters are not used to the west of Scotland climate, the BBC will also be re-creating tropical, hot and wet, conditions for their temporary home.
Mr Russell said: "We have to recreate their home in Trinidad, which is moist and warm.
"These ants are considered a pest where they come from and would have been destroyed.
"They do not live very well in cold climates and so aren't a danger to UK crops.
"We've crated them from Trinidad to Gatwick and then on to Glasgow so they can start building their new home, which is only about 25% built at the moment so we have a lot of work to do."
The BBC will recreate the tropical forest floor, with plants and trees from which the leaf-cutters can gather leaves so they can make the fungi that allows them to live.
Half of the show will be following the development and activities in the Glasgow ant colony, and the other half will be looking at ant societies worldwide. The show will look at "super colonies" of ants which stretch across vast areas across the world.
It will also look at how the study of ant societies and their means of communication and transportation have influenced the algorithms used in computer research and operations and efficiency research.
Planet Ant is a co-production between the BBC and the Discovery Channel.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article