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The collected food is taken back to the ant nest
In leaf-cutter ants of the genus Atta, the leaves are carried back to the nest along very obvious trails that are cleared of vegetation. The pictures on this page are of Atta cephalotes in both the field and laboratory. Some worker ants may carry their own leaf fragments back to the colony, while others will stay near the plant from which they are cutting leaf fragments and dump the leaf fragments in a leaf cache a short way along the trail where they are retrieved by other workers and taken further along the trail. The reason for this behaviour is unclear, and it is currently being investigated in a collaboration between researchers from Sheffield University and the University of Aarhus.
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Very small workers ("minims") will often ride on the pieces of plant material as they are carried back to the ant nest. They protect the larger workers from a parasitic fly that tries to lay its eggs on the back of the ant's head while it is carrying leaf fragments, and so unable to defend itself. |  |
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