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| Common Name: | Leafcutter ants | Family: | Formicidae |
| Latin Name: | Atta cephalotes | Diet: | Frugivore |
| Type: | Invertebrate | Habitat: | Tropical Rainforest |
| Native To: | North America | Social Unit: | Group |
| IUCN Red List Status: | Least concern |
Leafcutter ants at Edinburgh Zoo
Leaf cutter ants harvest leaves to produce a specific fungus which is this insect's staple diet. At Edinburgh Zoo you can watch these animals at work as they harvest leaves and carry them across a custom-made rope walkway back to the nest.
Where they can be found Edinburgh Zoo
You can see our leaf cutter ants at work at the entrance to the Brilliant Birds aviary, just behind Bundogo Trail.
Leafcutter ants in the wild
Leafcutter ants have powerful jaws which vibrate up to 1000 times a second, allowing them to chop up leaves. Leafcutter ants don't eat the leaves, instead they harvest them and use them to cultivate a specific fungus which is their staple diet.
Leafcutter ants live in huge colonies ranging from three million to eight million ants. Within these colonies ants live by a complex social structure with different groups performing specific roles.
Soldier leafcutter ants have jaws powerful enough to chew through leather which theyuse to cut and collect peices of leaves while gardener leafcutter ants work beneath the ground processing the leaves brought back to the nest. The colony has a single queen who lays all the eggs to ensure there are enough workers.
Because leafcutter ants travel a significant distance from their nest searching for leaves this species must rely on extremely powerful scent trails to navigate the forest floor and maintain contact with other ants. Leafcutter ants produce a pheremone so powerful a single gram would be enough to create a scent trail across the world.
Chemcial communication helps these ants in another way as the fungus they cultivate sends out a chemical warning if the ants bring back plant material which is toxic to it.
Over the lifetime of a single colony leafcutter ants shift 20 tons of soil.
Breeding programme category:
ICUN Red List category: Least concern
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