ZSL London Zoo Leaf-cutter ants, pre-war?

[sooty mangabey]

I have recently been reading a wonderful novel, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.

It has nothing out to do with zoos, but I do recommend it nonetheless.

However, at one stage a character compares some people to leaf-cutter ants she had seen at London Zoo, before the Second World War.

In an appendix, Ms Atkinson admits to not knowing whether such animals were on display in Regent's Park, prior to the outbreak of war, but says that she "suspects not".

Does anybody know the truth of the matter?

 

[DavidBrown]

I found your post interesting and it got me curious about the history of leaf-cutter ants in captivity. The reference below says that the Bronx Zoo had a leaf-cutter ant colony on display in 1938, so at least it is theoretically possible that London could have had one in the timeframe of the novel.

http://www.blueboard.com/leafcutters/care/pdf/sasionline.pdf

 

[Pertinax]

I've just had a look in the latest Leaf-cutter Ant Studbook and can't see any reference to this.

 

[Pacu]

I think it is unlikely. I have seen a photograph from London Zoo, of an 'ant palace' from 1936. This was constructed between two sheets of glass with sand and soil between them and the caption made a point of saying it had been imported from America. My pre-war guidebook does say that it is not possible to identify all the insects and that the displays change but given the space it dedicates to stick insects and the like, I am sure leaf cutter ants would have been mentioned had they been in the collection. My father, who is no longer with us, told me that he saw them for the first time in the 1960's walking out of one big jar, across a rope and into another. Both jars stood in a tray of water which had some dead ants in it.

 

[Gigit]

I've just had a look in the latest Leaf-cutter Ant Studbook and can't see any reference to this.

That's not a book I'd like to pick up and I don't know the answer, but Kate Atkinson's novel is indeed remarkable.