A leaf cutter ant carrying a heart shaped leaf.
A leaf cutter ant carrying a heart shaped leaf. The farmers of the insect world, leaf-cutter ants grow their own food in underground fungus farms. Pieces of leaf are carried hundreds of metres in impressive processions, with each ant carrying a piece up to 50 times its own body weight. That's like one of us carrying a medium-sized van. The leaves are used to create fungus gardens that feed the whole colony - millions and millions of ants. Soldiers protect the huge nest and the irreplaceable queen at all costs, as Sir David Attenborough discovered while delivering a piece to camera from the top of an ant nest for Trials of Life.
Size: 6000px × 3999px
Location: Twycross Zoo, Leicestershire, England, UK
Photo credit: © David Warren / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ant, bodyweight, carrying, cutter, feat, great, gripping, hairs, heart, leaf, love, strong, tiny, valentine
