Uploaded May 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
These leafcutter ants of the genus Atta from the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador carry pieces of leaves and flowers of a Blakea tree, Melastomataceae to their colony's fungus garden under ground. They cannot digest the leaves themselves but cultivate a special fungus on which they feed. The wingless worker ants are females. To prevent parasitic flies from entering the ant colony as clandestine passengers smaller worker ants sit on top of the leaves while larger ants carry them. Each ant can lift up to 50 times its own body weight. This is equivalent to a man carrying a van over his head!
These leafcutter ants of the genus Atta from the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador carry pieces of leaves and flowers of a Blakea tree, Melastomataceae to their colony's fungus garden under ground. They cannot digest the leaves themselves but cultivate a special fungus on which they feed. The wingless worker ants are females. To prevent parasitic flies from entering the ant colony as clandestine passengers smaller worker ants sit on top of the leaves while larger ants carry them. Each ant can lift up to 50 times its own body weight. This is equivalent to a man carrying a van over his head!
