"Civilised" insects.
Millions of years ago, long before man began their farming practices, the ants have already learn to cultivate fungus for their food. Amazingly, ants also practice farming, specialisation, waste management and medicine! Leafcutter ants cultivate their own food from freshly cut leaves, uses sophisticated antibiotics against fungal pests in their garden and have a sophisticated waste management system!
Leafcutter ants cut leaves and petals into small pieces with their sharp jaws and carry them back into their underground colonies, hand the leaves to the smaller ants who carry them to their fungus gardens. The leaves are cut into smaller and smaller fragments by smaller and smaller ants until the thoroughly masticated fluffy-looking fungus cultures are placed into the growing culture and tended by the tiniest ants. The fungus produced special structures called gongylidia which are eaten by the ants.
To protect the fungus cultures from fungal pests, these ants uses antibiotics produced by Streptomyces bacteria that lives on their skin and also physically remove the invading fungi.
The queen ant lay her eggs in the fungus garden. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the gongylidia and are cared for by specialised nurse ants.
When the nutrients have been used up from the leaf material, the waste are transported to special dump chambers where dead ants and dead fungus are also placed. There are specialized "heap workers" who spend their entire time in the huge waste dumps turning over and aerating the garbage piles to hasten decomposition.
Fungus growing ants
Leafcutter ants cut leaves and petals into small pieces with their sharp jaws and carry them back into their underground colonies, hand the leaves to the smaller ants who carry them to their fungus gardens. The leaves are cut into smaller and smaller fragments by smaller and smaller ants until the thoroughly masticated fluffy-looking fungus cultures are placed into the growing culture and tended by the tiniest ants. The fungus produced special structures called gongylidia which are eaten by the ants.
To protect the fungus cultures from fungal pests, these ants uses antibiotics produced by Streptomyces bacteria that lives on their skin and also physically remove the invading fungi.
The queen ant lay her eggs in the fungus garden. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the gongylidia and are cared for by specialised nurse ants.
When the nutrients have been used up from the leaf material, the waste are transported to special dump chambers where dead ants and dead fungus are also placed. There are specialized "heap workers" who spend their entire time in the huge waste dumps turning over and aerating the garbage piles to hasten decomposition.
Fungus growing ants
posted by Peter @ Enviroman at 2:08 PM
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