Greetings Ant lovers,

We were super lucky sit down with Dr. Corrie Moreau and her team at the Moreau Lab in the Field Museum in Chicago. If you have been thinking of getting into myrmecology as a career or were just curious about what the myrmecologist lifestyle is like, this video is for you!

How Much Money Does an Ant Scientist Make? (ft. Dr. Corrie Moreau)

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a myrmecologist (i.e., a scientist who studies ants)?

In this video, we travel all the way to Chicago, Illinois, to meet renowned myrmecologist Dr. Corey Moreau and her enthusiastic associates at the Field Museum of Natural History, who have dedicated their entire lives to studying ants.

We take a closer look at what it’s like to be a myrmecologist, what they love about the job, and its challenges, and we also ask the big question: how much money does a myrmecologist make?

You don’t want to miss all this amazing ant love and information straight from professional myrmecologists themselves.

We also announce the winner of last week’s AC question of the week, as well as announce this week’s AC question of the week for a very exciting prize!

Here we go, ant lovers!

If any of you guys have been thinking of studying ants as a profession or were just curious about the world of myrmecology, then this video is for you.

Welcome to another episode of the AntsCanada ant channel!

Visiting Dr. Corey Moreau’s ant lab at the Field Museum of Natural History was super exciting.

Can you imagine an entire laboratory and facility whose sole purpose is to study ants?

The Moreau Lab was just full of awesome ant goodies, literature, memorabilia, and art—truly an ant lover’s paradise.

Now, I had visited their ant lab last year but sadly missed Dr. Corey Moreau (who, by the way, insists we call her Corey) as she was out of town.

But this time, it was amazing to finally have the opportunity to sit down and chat with Corey about our favorite topic—ants!

So, here we go! Corey, please kindly introduce yourself to our AC family.

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“Hi! I’m Dr. Corey Moreau, and I’m an associate curator and professor here at the Field Museum of Natural History.”

Thank you, Corey! We’re so happy you’re joining us today.

So, as a myrmecologist, please tell us what you do.

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“Oh my goodness, what do I do?

I get to study ants from all over the world.

So, mostly what that means is I run around the jungles of the world collecting ants so that I can bring them back to the museum.

Some of which we sort of curate in that typical way that you think of museum curation—you know, collections with them on pins so we can examine their morphology.

But almost everything we do in my lab is DNA-based or genomic-based.

So, what we do then is take them down to our DNA lab and extract parts of the DNA or genome so that we can study aspects of either the evolution of the ant itself.

And in some cases, we’re actually also looking at the bacteria associated with their guts to figure out what’s the functional role of those bacteria and how they have helped the ants sort of expand into novel niches or diversify on an evolutionary timescale.”

Wow, it really sounds like you do a lot in myrmecology!

It also sounds pretty technical and intensive, so we’re wondering what kind of schooling is required to be a myrmecologist.

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“To be a myrmecologist, no schooling is required.

Now, to have a position such as mine, you have to go all the way through the PhD.

But I know some amazing myrmecologists who are amateur myrmecologists, right?

They’ve just dedicated their free time to studying ants.

Now, if you want to make it a career where you’re getting paid, in some cases, you have to have at least some amount of schooling—so at least an undergraduate degree in entomology or a related field.

And then, if you sort of want to continue to move up the ladder and run your own research program, then you might need a PhD.”

Wow, okay! So please kindly take us through your typical workday.

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“My typical workday? I wish I could say it’s more glamorous, but often, it’s writing grants, checking emails, and working on manuscripts—that’s the average day.

But luckily for me, I get to go and actually do fieldwork myself, so I actually travel to tropical parts of the world and work all the way from the ground underneath the canopy to the top of the canopy collecting ants.

For me, that’s the most exciting part of what I get to do.

Now, of course, we get to generate lots of data down in our DNA lab, which is also really fun.

But for me, often the most exciting part is when we see the results. Sometimes it’s almost exactly what you would have predicted ahead of time, but more often than not, it’s not what you predicted, and then trying to understand what you’re seeing is really exciting.”

I also got a unique chance to talk to members of Corey’s team.

Hi there, sir, please introduce yourself to the AC family.

Matt Boot:

“My name is Matt Boot, I’m a research assistant here at the Field Museum.

I work in Dr. Moreau’s lab, and basically, I help her process and curate the specimens she’s collected throughout the years and help get them into the museum and recorded in history for posterity.”

Sounds good!

Okay, so I gotta ask—why is it important to curate ants? Why do we need to record and keep track of all the ants we find?

Matt Boot:

“It’s very important because it really goes hand in hand with the types of biological research that we do.

So, museums are great repositories of this rich biological record that we’ve collected, and in many ways, we can access it in new ways now that we have molecular techniques to address questions about evolution.”

Dr. Corey Moreau’s Favorite Ant Species

When I asked Corey about her favorite ant to study, she replied:

“My favorite ant in the world is the turtle ant, and my favorite species is Cephalotes varians, the Florida turtle ant.

These beautiful ants have little disc-shaped heads, which they use to block the nest entrances in which they live—at least the soldiers do.

The minor workers run around and do all the things like foraging for food, caring for the nest, and helping rear the brood.

I love the turtle ants!”

Turtle Ants Certainly Are Cool!

Turtle ants certainly are cool! I mean, how can you not like an ant that looks like this?

We also got a chance to chat with another member of her team who helps her research these ants.

Hello, please kindly introduce yourself to the AC family.

Shawna Price:

“My name is Shawna Price, I am a post-doctoral researcher here at the Field Museum, and I work with Dr. Corey Moreau.

I study a group of ants called turtle ants, and they live in the neotropics in places like the Amazon and into Central and South America.

I work on their evolutionary relationships using molecular techniques, and I also try to study how their traits have evolved across time and how ecology has influenced species relationships and how their traits have evolved over time.”

Corey’s Most Memorable Moment as a Myrmecologist

Corey, what was your most memorable moment working as a myrmecologist?

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“You know, that’s a hard one to say. I think on the one hand, it’s sort of the first time you ever went to the field, right?

That’s such an enlightening experience. But at the same time, maybe my most memorable recent experience is when I got to go to French Guiana, where they had this special system for accessing the canopy.

Essentially, you’re just sitting in a chair by yourself, and you get hoisted up into the canopy by yourself. You have a little remote control, and it’s entirely silent.

So it’s just you up there collecting ants in the trees, and it’s so quiet—birds are coming next to you. I had a howler monkey come and check me out.

And so, of course, being that intimately part of nature is exciting.

But for me, it was seeing these ants up there in the top of the canopy. I mean, we’re talking like 100 feet in the air, just doing the things that they’re typically doing.

In fact, we saw some species of ants foraging in the top of the canopy that we assumed only stayed on the ground or maybe low vegetation.

So, even making unique observations is part of it.”

Wow, that’s just crazy! That gave me goosebumps. What an experience for sure.

So, we gotta know—what is the most fulfilling part of what you do?

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“I think for me, the most fulfilling part is that I get to do what I love every single day.

I love my job! I mean, I get to come in and ask questions about the evolution of biodiversity on the planet, and that is so exciting.”

Do You Believe in Evolution?

So you believe in evolution?

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“Oh, absolutely! I mean, how else can you explain all the diversity on the planet?”

Job Perks of a Myrmecologist

Corey, are there any job perks to being a myrmecologist?

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“I think for me, the biggest job perk is that I get to supervise students.

For me, that’s so rewarding—to get the opportunity to share my passion with the next generation and also see their passion.”

Meet Benjamin, a PhD Candidate

I also got to meet one of the students on her team. And by student, I mean PhD candidate.

Meet Benjamin, who studies Polyrhachis ants.

Benjamin Blanchard:

“I’m Benjamin Blanchard, I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, and I also work in the lab here at the Field Museum.

Currently, I’m working on Polyrhachis ants. Polyrhachis is this really interesting, diverse, spiny ant genus—a group of species that has a whole variety of different kinds of crazy spines.

And so I’m interested in looking at how the evolution of these spines might affect the ecology and evolution of the ants.”

Supriya from the Moreau Lab

The Moreau Lab also happens to be the workplace of ant researchers from other countries who also study other branches of biology.

For example, Supriya, who studies the relationship between ants and birds.

Supriya:

“My name is Supriya. I am a PhD candidate in the Moreau Lab and Trevor Price’s Lab at the University of Chicago.

I’m originally from India, and I look at interactions between birds and ants to see if they might be competing with each other and influencing each other’s species diversity patterns.”

Meet Madeline, a Volunteer with a Unique Story

I also got to meet some of the volunteers, like Madeline over here, who has a hilarious story on how she got into studying ants.

Madeline:

“My name is Madeline, and I’m a volunteer here in the ant lab.

I have a BA in Anthropology.

So, for after I graduated and got my degree in anthropology, I did a field course on primatology in tropical Peru.

And at one point, I got stung by two bullet ants—I sat on them.

While recovering from that, one of the other biologists there brought me this huge book of ants called Journey to the Ants, and I started reading it and got really interested.

I started doing a little mini project on some of the ant species that I found in the area while I was also working on primatology.”

What Does It Feel Like to Be Stung by a Bullet Ant?

Oh man, now we gotta know—what does it feel like to be stung by a bullet ant?

Madeline:

“Oh God, well, there’s that Schmidt chart that describes all the stings—that’s pretty accurate.

It was like two, one after another, very immediate, red hot, metallic-like jabs.

I jumped up very quickly and uttered a lot of expletives.

And I was in the middle of nowhere—I was a couple of miles outside of camp. So walking back was awkward.

But two days later, I got stung by a bunch of army ants.”

What Did That Feel Like?

What did that feel like?

Madeline:

“That hurt a lot too.

They got into my binoculars case, and I didn’t see them. When I reached in, they poured all over my hand. My hand swelled up to twice its size, and it was my dominant hand, so every time I went to open a door, I was reminded that I had been stung.

It was very burning—like grabbing a coal.”

Challenges of Myrmecology

Now it sounds like working in myrmecology has its hazards too!

But I had to ask her: in this day and age, YouTube challenges are a huge thing, and people have been suggesting that I should try the bullet ant challenge and allow myself to be stung by a bullet ant.

Do you think I should do this?

Madeline:

“No! It’s horrible.”

How Much Does a Myrmecologist Make?

Alright, noted!

Okay, Corey, here’s the big question everybody wants to know: how much does a myrmecologist make, and can it be a lucrative career?

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“Oh gosh, okay, so how much does a myrmecologist make?

I think it varies pretty dramatically.

There are some pretty famous myrmecologists, so they probably make some pretty big paychecks.

But on average, I think you can sustain yourself, but you’re not going to be living in a mansion.

But that’s okay!

For me, it’s that I get to do what I love every single day.

As long as I can pay my bills and keep going on trips collecting ants and studying the evolution of ants, I’m completely satisfied.”

The Most Challenging Part of Myrmecology

Such a great and inspiring attitude!

Okay, so Corey, what is the most challenging part of what you do?

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“I think the most challenging part is that not everyone appreciates ants as much as we do.

I’m often surprised that other people don’t see their beauty, not just their physical beauty but their importance in the environment.

I don’t like when people say they would rather have no ants because I don’t think they realize what that would mean for the planet.

Ants are incredibly important ecologically—they play a lot of roles in the environment, make up a huge biomass, and are incredibly diverse.”

Inspiring the Next Generation

I think young people can find myrmecology interesting because it’s a branch of biology, which is all about understanding the world better.

That’s what drew me into biology—wanting to know more about the world around me and my place inside it.

I think it’s really important for young people who may not have as much of a tangible connection to the world around them as they used to.

Getting to work with ants in this environment is amazing.

I’ve always come to the Field Museum since I was a little kid, and it’s a great place to come and learn about ants.

Working behind the scenes here is amazing.

I love both the research component and the outreach opportunities.

Being able to talk about your science with people—from little kids to adults—is amazing.”

Outro & Encouraging Message from Corey

For all of us ant lovers, Corey had a very inspiring message:

“Keep studying ants! There’s so much out there that we’re not even going to scratch the surface of in my lifetime, even with all the myrmecologists out there.

We need all of you to study ants to get a better understanding of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.”

Awesome! Thank you so much, Corey, for sitting down with us today.

Dr. Corey Moreau:

“It was my pleasure. Thanks!”

And there you have it, guys! You heard her—keep on studying ants!

The world of myrmecology needs you to seek answers to important questions, not just about ants, but about us, how we got here, how nature works, how we fit into it, and about how all life on the planet came to be.

Being able to talk to Corey and her enthusiastic team was truly special.

It’s just amazing to think that these guys have so much ant love that they decided ants were important enough to devote their entire lives to.

Dr. Moreau is on a lifelong quest to answer questions about evolution, but there is so much to study out there about ants.

And who knows, in a few years, you too might be working at one of these ant labs!

For more about the Moreau Lab and what these amazing folks are doing, visit moreaulab.org.

I’ll put a link in the description box.

Question of the Week

So what do you guys think? Would you become a myrmecologist?

Let me know in the comments section.

Thanks for watching this video, guys, and always remember—it’s ant love forever!

Okay, time for the AC question of the week!

Last week, we asked, “What is the name of a queen dealate’s sealed-off chamber where she raises her first set of workers?”

Congratulations to Soul Thief 1991, who correctly answered the claustral cell.

Soul Thief 1991, you’ve won a new set of test tubes from our shop, used for queen rearing or liquid colony feeding.

And now, this week’s question of the week is: “What is the scientific name of Dr. Moreau’s favorite species of ant to study?”

Leave your answer in the comments section, and you could win one of our brand new series of AC ant shirts, debuting at our shop in a few weeks—which means, yes, you will be among the first to wear one in the whole world!

Tune in next week for the winner!

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