Leaf-Cutter Ants Can't Digest Leaves
(draft) So why are they carrying leaf cuttings into their hives all the time?
The answer is one of nature's beautiful symbiotic relationships.
Leaf-cutter ants are also known as farmer ants, because they "farm" a fungus. The ants collect leaves from the forest, carry them down into their hive and hand them off to colleagues. Those specialized ants mulch the leafy bits up with some ant spit, then feed the results to the fungus, which metabolizes it all. In return, the fungus oozes nectar and creates yummy projections called Gongylidia, all of which feed the ant colony.
Happy fungus, happy hive.
By analogy...
Similarly, many humans try to make sense of the world by taking notes, enhancing those notes, and exploring shared notetaking. tktk
More on the ants
Here's an informative introduction to the symbiotic relationship some ants have with fungi:
Finally, here's another documentary on the subject, Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony, plus this nexus in Jerry's Brain.
This fungal metaphor helps explain our fondness for The Big Fungus.
#JerrysBrain #symbiosis #collectiveintelligence #ants #fungi
This article is cross-posted on Substack here, Medium here and LinkedIn here. It's also here in my Brain.