@futurebird @JeanieBurrell @datarama it’s likely to be not entirely the genius of the ants tending to a passive fungus, I’d suspect the fungus is as much responsible for the worktogethering here, and perhaps induced the ants to do this sort of thing, I wouldn’t put it past a fungus to make an ant do a thing

@futurebird @datarama So these particular ants could not live without their fungi? The fungi has been subjected to selection, but have the ants?

@JeanieBurrell @futurebird Leafcutters are *entirely* dependent on that fungus. All those leaves they famously cut aren't for them - they're for the fungus farms. Their digestive system is extremely specialized and they can't eat anything else.

When young queens fly from the hive, they first visit the fungus farms to bring a wad of fungus with them. They even "feed" it with their own eggs until the first broods of workers can start bringing leaves!

@datarama @futurebird Oh! Like keeping a bit of my sourdough starter to make more sourdough starter. So that specific fungi is also dispersed by them?

@JeanieBurrell @futurebird Yes. It doesn't live anywhere but their hives; it can't survive on its own in the wild.

@JeanieBurrell

@futurebird can correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC there are also some aphid species that have become ant livestock and are now completely incapable of surviving without being tended and protected by ants.

(We apes were latecomers to the domestication and agriculture game, really. )

@datarama @futurebird I try to grow roses. Aphids are my nightmare. No chemicals, though. Ladybugs are best bugs!

@JeanieBurrell @futurebird I live on the fourth floor and have a little collection if indoor bonsai - and one of them *still* got killed by an aphid infestation. How those things managed to get up here I have no idea.

@JeanieBurrell @futurebird (I had a *really* nice Chinese sweet plum tree which got killed by aphids. The other plant that got hit was my pre-bonsai baobab, and the only thing that ended up defeating the little critters was chopping off all the leaf-bearing branches entirely and letting it backbud new ones.)

@JeanieBurrell @futurebird Leafcutters are *entirely* dependent on that fungus. All those leaves they famously cut aren't for them - they're for the fungus farms. Their digestive system is extremely specialized and they can't eat anything else.

When young queens fly from the hive, they first visit the fungus farms to bring a wad of fungus with them. They even "feed" it with their own eggs until the first broods of workers can start bringing leaves!