Leaf Cutter Ant
Leafcutter ants travel in long
lines far into the forest, in search of leaves; they leave a scent along the
trail so they can find their way back home . They use
their sharp mandibles (jaws) to cut leaves from plants, and then carry the
large pieces of leaves over their back. A leafcutter ant can carry almost ten
times its own weight - that is like a 200-pound adult weightlifter carrying a
2,000-pound car up in the air.
The leafcutter ants carry the leaf
pieces back to their underground nests where the leaves are chewed into a pulp . The decaying pulp is stored with ant feces and fungus
spores, and strands of fungus eventually grow on the decomposing pulp. This
fungus is the crop that these ants eat; the ants do not eat the leaves.
TREY C.