Leaf cutter ants
Leaf cutter ants can be any of the 39 species that live in the American tropics.[1] They are incredibly strong for their size as they can carry loads of up to 50 times their own weight - this would be like you or me carrying a medium-sized van.[2] The reason why they collect leaves is not for their own consumption but for the fertilisation of a fungus which lives underground in their nest. In return, this fungus provides food for the ants in the form of the fungal strands or protein-containing bodies called gondylidia.[1]
References
Photograph: Leaf-cutter Ants, © Kate Dey, 2014
[1] Encyclopaedia Britannica, (2013), leafcutter ant, [online], available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/333786/leafcutter-ant Accessed 1 December 2013
[2] BBC Nature, (2013), Leaf-cutter ants, [online], available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Atta_%28genus%29 Accessed 1 December 2013.
