The leaf cutter ant (Atta rodona) is a fungus-growing ant that inhabits tropical regions like Manu. Groups of these ants are often seen at night dismantling area vegetation leaf by leaf. During a ...

To Costa Ricans, the leaf-cutter ant can be one of the biggest pests to cause severe agricultural decay in parts of the country. To tourists, a trail of the hard-working red insects can appear as a ...

In early January, my wife and I returned from a vacation to tropical beaches and rainforests on Trinidad and Tobago, the most southern of the Caribbean Islands. The trip was expressly to learn about ...

When looking for wildlife in Costa Rica, it’s easy to become fixated on the unusual mammals and vibrant birds, but one of the country’s most complex creatures lies underfoot. Living in massive ...

No pigs or chickens yet. But the vast farms where leaf-cutter ants raise their fungal crops may harbor a crew of previously overlooked farmhands — nitrogen-fixing bacteria. At least eight species of ...

An icon of a desk calendar. An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. An icon of a paper envelope. An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. An icon of ...

The tiny leaf-cutter ant in Costa Rica punches well above its weight. Not only is it super strong, the ant could also help change the world for the better. Marching in long, exemplary lines, each ...

Question: We have a problem with cutter ants. I lose my entire crape myrtle tree every year. All of the pest control personnel I ask do not have a solution. Can you please suggest something to ...

Leaf-cutter ants rely on their razor-sharp mandibles to snip leaves to pieces. But over time, their mandibles dull. Physicist Robert Schofield of the University of Oregon looked at what happens when ...