Leaf Cutter Ants, the Radical Feminists* of the Jungle

While I have truly enjoyed all of the flora and fauna Nicaragua has to offer, I must admit that the thing I found most fascinating are the leaf cutter ants. I first came across them at La Finca Esperanza Verde outside of San Ramon in the state of Matagalpa. The leaf cutter ants are the hardest working creatures I think I´ve ever encountered. They are hard to miss as you trek through the forest because they literally cut a path about 3 inches wide, in many cases right down the middle of the hiking trail. They carry these huge chunks of leaves and flowers in their jaws, which float above their heads so that they resemble little sailboats floating along with green and orange and yellow sails unfurled. You can see them from 15 yards away! They are so beautiful and hard-working and incredible to watch. According to an estimate made by some entymologist, the ants do the equivalent of a human running a 4 minute mile for 30 miles with 500 lbs. on their back. Eventually they turn the leaves into fungus, composting 15% of the forests leaf production (!) Apparently they go great distances as well to harvest their crop. They form a complex caste system, of course, the cutters being the strongest. There are defender ants who have these huge mandibles which would draw blood on your finger if you got in their way. They defend the other ants from this crazy fly called a Phorid who tries to lay its eggs on the heads of the leaf cutters. When the maggot hatches, it eats the head of the ant and the ant dies. So the attack ant rides on top of the working ant (even more of a load) and fends off the fly...can you believe this? There are navigator ants who release pheramones instructing the others where to go. There are those who never leave the nest, constantly processing the plants into fungus, and the queen. All of the working ants are females. The males are biologically programmed to nothing other than fertilize eggs and promptly die...huh. What a strange little world we live in.

*Feminist Theory 101: Radical Feminists are separatists who believe that the solution to the inequality of the sexes is to separate themselves completely from any sort of relationship with men. Much to the chagrin of non-radical feminists, this relatively small group of feminists were the ones who seemed to get the most media attention during the women´s liberation movement of the 70s and 80s, leaving many people to associate all feminists with this particularly radical movement. Some of their actions probably resulted in the origin of terms like "man-hating feminist" and "feminazi." Now you know.