Leafcutter ants are endemic to South and Central America, and are ever-present in nature there. There is not only one type of leafcutter ants, but close to 50 different species. Every of this specie is based on a social system which complexity is second only to human societies.
For instance, smaller ants are on top of the leaf to make sure no flies lake eggs. Soldiers ants lay down the trail and protect the colony. They also check the leaf and send workers back when it is not good enough.
Leafcutter ants
Claire
Travel tips:
- Leafcutter ants are found all over Central America, and we could observe them really well at the Monteverde Butterfly Garden.
- You think you know a bit about ants and insects? Take our funny quiz!
- Check out this interactive map (quick tutorial) for the specific details and more articles and photos (zoom out) about the area!
Best regards from far, 
Great picture. Not sure I would agree that human society is a triumph at times though…we could perhaps learn a thing or two from ants. 🙂
Hi! Thanks for your comment. We did not mean that the human society is a triumph, but that it’s social structure is more complex. I made the text a bit clearer to avoid any misunderstanding. Thanks for catching it!
Hope you didn’t think I was being critical – far from it. I often look around and think that we often feel we are superior to animals but yet we kill each other with alarming regularity, there are numerous senseless wars, the level of general intelligence is probably declining…loads of issues…very true though that it is complex. Certainly won’t be fixed or solved in my lifetime anyway. 😄
No worries, quite the contrary: you were right and there may have been a misunderstanding in the text: so thanks for letting us know. And being critical is a good thing: that’s how we can improve 😃
Based on your comment, I believe you could be very interested in a book by Weber entitled The Empire of the Ants. It puts things in perspective. Thanks again!
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