Formicarium

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Ants tunneling through a formicarium.

A formicarium is an insectarium which is designed primarily for the study of ant colonies and behaviour. Those who study ant behaviour are known as myrmecologists.

Formicariums are widely known to the public as ant farms. An ant farm is an ant colony enclosed by a transparent box (a formicarium usually made of glass or plastic). It is a registered trademark of Uncle Milton Industries, Inc. Milton Levine is credited with creating the toy in 1956 after watching ants parade through a picnic. The company has sold over 20 million Ant Farms and is still family owned.

They are usually made thin enough so the tunnels and cavities made by the ants can be seen, and for their behavior to be studied. Ant farms are popular "pets" for school projects.

External links

• [antweb.org]
• [www.myrmecos.net: an extensive ant photo gallery]
• [myrmecology.info: a portal to many different ant-related sites]
• [The Ant Farm's and Myrmecology Forum]
• [The Kurt Kuene Antpage: Kurt Kuene shows how he keeps his ants. With many photos]
• [Antcam - Has some good Step-by-step instructions on how to build several different types of formicarium.]
• [The Ant Farm: A personal Web site on ants and with an Ant Farm theme]
• [The Ants FAQ]
• [The Ant Farm's and Myrmecology's Message Board]
• [Ant Farm Simulator: Virtual Ant Farm and simulator of Food-Gathering behaviour]

See also

• Ant Farm: A specific type of formicarium toy.
• SimAnt: a computer game based on raising ants.
• Ant
• Insectarium
• Vivarium
• Myrmecology: the study of ants
• Sea-Monkey
• Instant Fish

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