Why do wood ants farm aphids and leafcutter ants cut leaves?
Posted on 02. Nov, 2010 by raiders1 in Nature
I am not a huge fan of ants but I have to admit they sure are interesting little critters and there are so many
different types. My son was trying to tell me about a show that he watched about all different types of ants. This program was based on a couple of specific ants in particular which actually intrigued me.
Of course unbeknown to me there is an ant called a leafcutter ant. They live in rain forests and can be found in Central and South America. They build nests under ground and this is where they sleep at night. During the day they are considered hard working little farmers. They follow scent trails up to the tops of trees and cut pieces of leaf to carry back to the nest. There is where the smaller working ants chew the leaves into a mushy compost where they grow a type of fungus. They take this fungus and then “harvest” it which later becomes their food.
Another interesting ant is the wood ants. Wood ants have the job of protecting aphids, mainly they do this for ladybugs by positioning themselves around them in trees and on plants while aphids eat. This is in order to collect the drops of honeydew that the aphids make while they are eating. Wood ants also eat other small insects, they have a strong bite that kills them and then they drag them back to the nest. They have been known to live in forests and gardens in Europe.
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