Leaf-Cutter Ants and Symbiosis

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So these little suckers are SO cool. I first saw a colony of leaf-cutter ants while I was in Granada, Nicaragua. Their paths span for hundres of feet and even sometimes more than a mile, and they all have one solid mission: to bite off chunks of a specific leaf, and carry it all the way back to the colony. But here is the kicker: the ants do not eat the leaves. They feed the leaves to a certain type of fungus, which thrives off of it, and they in turn eat this fungus. What a wonderful example of symbiotic relationships. 

2 thoughts on “Leaf-Cutter Ants and Symbiosis

  1. Pingback: Science Weekly podcast: The wonders of butterflies and ants | AreesPortal

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