Antquarium Not Good For Ants

The Antquarium was the featured item at Tokyu Hands when I was in Tokyo last month. It's a cool concept—go out in the wild and gather up some ants, put them in this nutrient-filled gel, and watch them dig holes, establish colonies, and make a living inside the little neon blue rectangle. I almost bought one for a friend, and then I noticed the little black specks at the top of the display model. A closer look revealed a colony of dead ants who had died, defeated, trying to survive in this artificial environment.

So go ahead and buy one if you want. It's a great concept and a fun experiment, if you don't care if your ants survive.

Product page (Japanese)

Comments

[zulugrid]

I was under the impression that a colony of ants will die (regardless of the environment) if they don't have a queen.

Ants don't live forever, and if there aren't new ants to replace them, then how would the colony survive?