Leafcutter ants don’t eat leaves, they eat fungus that the cultivate in underground garden chambers inside their nests. Each species of Leafcutter ants use a different species of fungus from the family Lepiotaceae. They are sensitive to the specific chemical makeup of each leaf and each plant and select only the leaves that will help their fungus grow.	In order to find such leaves, however, these ants will travel miles into the forest to find the right plant, usually at night. Thus, the best time to see these social insects performing their most intrinsic behavior is at night. That’s when we found this nest!	So many individuals will walk the path to get the leaves so many times that the vegetation on the trial is worn down. It almost looks like a deer trail, but ants are the only cause.
	Most people know that ants can carry objects greater than their body weight. In fact, a worker can drag an object 25 times heavier than itself when she needs to. Teamwork can move even more, so it’s no wonder that these gals are so successful.
There are four castes in the Leafcutter colonies beside the reproductives (Queens and males). These consist of minims are tiny workers who mostly take care of eggs and young and tend the fungus gardens. Mediae are the larger workers who forage – going out to cut the leaves and bring them back to the nest.		Minors are slightly larger workers and help to defend the foraging colomn if attacked. They are the first line of defense. Finaly, Majors are the main defenseive soldiers. They are so specialized that their jaws are so huge with muscle that they have to rely on the other workers to feed them.

Leafcutter ants are fascinating, but they’re only one kind of ant in the world. For more information, follow these links!
Leafcutters		Ant Info		Video
HOMEPAGE	CANOEING		TERMITES		TIDE POOLS

          Made by Chapen LeGrand