Leafcutter Ant

insects · farming · teamwork · underground cities

Leaf-cutting farmers. Leafcutter ants don't actually eat the leaves they cut. Instead, they carry them back to their underground nests and use the leaves to grow fungus, which is their real food. It's like they're running an invisible farm in the dirt.

Mega underground cities. A leafcutter ant colony's main nest mound can grow bigger than a house, stretching more than 30 meters (98 feet) across, with smaller tunnels reaching out to the size of a basketball court. One colony can be home to 3.55 million ants working together.

Super organized society. Only humans and leafcutter ants form animal societies that are this large and complicated. The ants have different jobs, different sizes, and different roles, and they all work together perfectly without anyone telling them what to do.

Ancient farmers. Leafcutter ants have been farming fungus for millions of years, long before humans figured out how to grow crops. Scientists think they may have even domesticated their fungus, like how humans domesticated wheat and rice.

Highway builders. Leafcutter ants create highways and tunnels between their nest and the trees they farm, and you can sometimes see trails of thousands of ants marching back and forth, each carrying a piece of leaf like a green flag.