And The Winner Is...

[Jubal]

Imperators of the Undergrowth - Winner Announcement!

The judges' scores are in! Our two experts, field ecologist & Caledonian Conservation director Chris Cathrine and spider expert Dr Helen Smith, looked over the entries for our Imperators of the Undergrowth competition. The prize? A steam key for the fantastic Empires of the Undergrowth, an epic RTS by the lovely folk at Slug Disco games based on the deadly struggles of ants and other invertebrates as they struggle for food, nesting sites, and survival itself. The scores were very close: the top two entries were separated by only 0.75 points out of a possible 20! Both judges commented on the interest shown by the participants as they grappled with the testing short-flash format of just three hundred words per entry. Well done to everyone who managed to enter...

However, according to the rules laid down at the dawn of time by the mysterious stone tablets by us about four weeks ago, there could be only one winner of the grand prize, and so the scores were totalled and...

The Winner Is:
awinner!

The winning entry zoomed in on a single species of ant, Formica pacifica, and discussed how they adapt to the environment around them. Here it is:

My favorite invertebrate is Formica pacifica. They are very pretty diurnal foragers in my area. Originally adapted to rocky stream beds and other open habitats, they have adapted well to paved urban areas. There is a colony that lives at the top of my driveway in a utility access point. They have great big eyes and beautiful silky silver pubescence.

I am particularly attached to these neighbors because the best ant photograph I've ever taken was of one of them, and the only time I've corresponded with professional myrmecologist John Longino was when he verified the species I.D. from that photo.

I've kept other species of ants as pets, but F. pacifica nests are marvellously inaccessible because they nest under the pavement.

Congratulations to awinner; you'll be getting one ste Thanks to Big_McLargehuge, BitGamerX, and Stonelesscutter for providing our other excellent entries. If you didn't win this time or you missed this competition, don't feel put out - Exilian will be running more competitions in the next few months as we approach our 10th anniversary, including more chances to win Empires of the Undergrowth as well as other upcoming prizes! Very many thanks again to the hugely generous Slug Disco team who donated the competition prize and of course made this utterly fantastic game!

Hope to see you soon - until then, many congratulations to awinner for the successful entry!