Animal Communities And Groups (1963)

[Music] in a city many thousands of people live together and perform hundreds of different jobs the people of a city cooperate with each other to get work done for the good of all division of labor is the name for this kind of cooperation a place where people live and work together and where there is a division of labor is called a community a city is a human community Community the people in a human Community learn their jobs and they learn to cooperate with each other in this Meadow there is a different kind of community an animal community in any animal community the animals such as these ants also do different jobs and they also cooperate we say they do these things by Instinct that is they do these things without having to learn them as we do on this Rocky Cliff a number of Cliff swallows have built their nests is this a community let's learn something about animal communities as we look at some animals that live together we'll see that some animals such as ants live together in communities and we'll see that other animals such as Cliff swallows live together in groups where there is no division of labor of course not all animals live together in groups or communities some animals such as bears live in pears or alone elk are animals that do live together in large groups called herds the animals in this herd do not do different kinds of work but they do move as a group to new feeding grounds during winter deer also live together in groups called herds herds of deer search for food together and the members of The Herd help protect one another a single deer may be easy prey for wolves or other meat eating animals but several deer can protect themselves by warning one another of the presence of enemies some of the largest animals that live in groups are bison bison gathered together to search for food many years ago large herds of Bison moved across the United States in search of feeding grounds but this animal the beaver doesn't have to go far in search of food beavers always build their homes close to their feeding grounds beavers too live together in groups as groups they build their homes and gather food and help protect one another from enemies many birds such as wild ducks live together in groups called flocks in the spring and again in the fall flocks of ducks gathered together to migrate or fly to a different climate in this field are birds called Quail they live together in groups called cies many people believe that Quail live in groups in order to keep one another warm during cold weather pheasants are another kind of ground bird that live together in groups often members of the group will warn the others of nearby enemies high above the ground on cliffs such as this we can find other animals that live together these birds are Cliff swallows Cliff swallows gather mud from wet places to use in building their nests the nests are built on the face of a cliff the nests of many cliff swallow families are built one right next to the other almost like apartments in a large building now we've seen several kinds of animals such as Cliff swallows Quail bison and deer that live together in groups the animals that make up these groups do not perform different jobs from for the good of all so there is no division of labor in these animal groups but here are some animals that live together that do have a division of labor ants honeybees and termites live together in communities in communities the animals live and work together for the good of all termites live together in a community called a colony different kinds of termites do different kinds of jobs for the good of the entire Colony honeybees live in communities called swarms all bees belonging to the Swarm live together in a hive The Hive is a busy place there are three different kinds of bees living together in the hive this large bee in the center is a queen bee these bees are drones and these are workers each kind of bee does a different kind of work for the good of the Swarm this is division of labor there's division of labor in this community also ants are insects that live and work together for the good of all in their Community which is called a colony inside the anill we can see some of the different kinds of work ants do to help each other the digging ants make the many rooms and passageways inside the hill the digging ants build the hill by scooping out the soil bit by bit the digging ants then carry their loads of soil to the surface of the ground this is the way ant hills are formed many different kinds of work go on in the rooms made by the digging ants a very important ant is the queen ant she is most often found in a room called the nursery the work of the queen ant is to lay eggs she's laying an egg now caring for the eggs and the young is the work of ants called nurses these nurses are caring for the cocoons in each cocoon a young ant is growing getting enough food is another part of community life the ants on this Leaf are food gatherers using their strong Jaws these ants gnaw pieces of leaves and take them back to the hill here the food Gathering ants have found a caterpillar and are tugging it to a store room where it will be used as food by all the ants in the hill the ants running up this plant are from another colony and gather food in a different way these are farmer ants tending smaller insects called aphids or ant cows when a farmer ant Strokes an aphid with its antenna or feelers the aphid gives off a sweet fluid called honeydew the farmer ants collect the Honeydew and feed it to other ants living in the community still other ants in the community protect the hill against enemies these ants are called soldier ants sometimes ants from another community may attack the hill and soldiers defend it if the soldiers are successful in defending the hill the ants return to their everyday activities we have seen then that an ant hill is a true community in which the individuals work and live together and where there is a division of labor for the good of all what other animals have we seen that live together in communities what animals did we see that live together in groups how can you tell whether animals live together in groups or communities when you have answered these questions you may want to look about your own vicinity for other examples of animals that live together [Music] am