Natural History Wanderings

An amazing recent discovery on how ants are protecting Acacia trees from elephants.

Ecologists recently learned that an Acacia tree called  “The Whistling-thorn Tree” (Acacia drepanolobium) was apparently immune to attacks from elephants.  The protectors of the tree were an aggressive ant that lives in the thorns on the tree.  When an elephant comes near the tree the ants go inside the elephant’s trunk (which is its most sensitive and vulnerable part) and start stinging the elephant.  To read more go to the LA Times article Tree’s weapon against elephants? Ants or for a more scientific explanation go to the  Current Biology Article

and in Indonesia native toads are  fighting back against invasive aggressive alien ants

In spite  of the noxious chemicals released by the ants, the native toads are not deterred  and eat them anyway.   To read more go the wired.com article Native Toad Fights Back again Yellow Crazy-Ant Invasion

Related Articles

• Elephants Are Terrified By Ants [Science] (gizmodo.com)
• “Elephants Afraid of Ants” and related posts (care2.com)