Ants - Leafcutter Ants (Atta cephalotes)
This is an ant trail. It has been made by the leafcutter ants. You see these trails everywhere in the forest. The leafcutter ants do a lot of work in the forest carrying leaves and other plant material into their nest. They are very important to the rainforest eco-system.
These ants are fascinating although not easy to photograph. The ants measured in bio-mass are heavier than any other type of animal in the rainforest.
This trail goes over this fallen tree towards their nest.
This is the nest. It's about 2 metres wide and 1 metres high. I've got no idea how deep the tunnels inside this nest go.
Here you see one of the worker ants carrying a big piece of something. In relation to their size they must be extremely strong. On top you see two smaller ants. They are not lazy, going along for the ride but these 'hitchhiker ants' actively protect the plant material and the worker ants from parasites.
The worker ants carry the leaves to the smaller ants. They chew the leaves up into very small pieces making it all sticky. The plant material is then added to the fungus garden. The ants feed off the fungi. All the ants help to maintain the fungi garden. In order for the fungi to grow they have to defecate on the leaves.
Unfortunately I can not show you the fungi garden. Disturbing the nest doesn't seem to be a good idea.
Another hitchhiker ant on top of the worker's cargo.
The forest is not without dangers. I came across this dead snake. It's difficult to tell but I do recognise it. I don't know the name but this one is not poisonous.
There are very poisonous snakes around here though. I almost threaded on one once. It looked exactly like this one.
Yet I will go back to this forest to make a video about the leafcutter ants and do some more photography.
Thanks and much love,
Gardenbsaquared
Such a wonderful post, @gardenbsquared. I love ants and to be honest very impressed by the size of the leafcutter ones. Beside to be compact animals they also know for their intelligence. I recently read an article of one Russian scientist - she was making experiments with ants and came to a conclusion that they have an intresting intellect able to recognize certain patterns and change their behaviour accordingly. For example, they are able to memorize the path in labyrinths very easy comparing to the other animals. I was very impressed with it. I do belive that ant and human have something in common - they live inside families, they protect and help each other, besides they have their own gardens and animals - meaning that they grow fungus and have aphids. They are such a wonderful creatures. I thank you for your post and wonderful photos.
Image Source
I love the picture. How different from ants are we really? Sometimes you just need the right microscope. Thank you for sharing your perspective, I could not agree more.
Yep, you need the right microscope of a perspective%)) We, humans, tend to think that we are "the kings of the nature" yet, in fact, there are creatures that can be considered a greater example%))
Very cool! At what elevation is this forest? There are some very similar scenes from where we are at!
The forest is full of dangers, but it draws us back in! You are a modern hunter, with your sophisticated tool you are capturing the most sustainable prize: evidence!
Thanks. We are at sea level here but we're almost neighbours in a way. I'm not surprised that things are similar.
To be honest, the forest only draws me back in as much as the mosquitos allow it.
Ants are also known for one of the most compact animals, they are often together in lifting weights and food. No wonder if they are always together whenever and wherever. Most of the most compact ants are small ants like you take. Very good and interesting articles, good luck.
Thank you and good luck to you to. Some of the workers are not that small though (almost 2 cm) but they are strong and yes ants always work together.
There is an ant database here: http://globalants.org/
Good day @gardenbsquared I appreciate all the info and hard work thank you :) Followed