Leafcutter ant: Clues from Nature

Question 1 · multiple choice

Choose the habitat that best matches the everyday needs of a Leafcutter ant.

dry woodland, shrub, and cultivated areas with trees coral reefs, lagoons, seagrass beds, and rocky shallows tropical forest floors and disturbed habitats in the Americas savannas, grasslands, and dry open woodlands

Question 2 · multiple choice

A scientist analyses food remains from a Leafcutter ant. Which result is most likely?

deer, wild pigs, and other medium to large prey plants, seeds, fruit, insects, and small animals zooplankton, small crustaceans, algae, and food scraps fungus cultivated on carefully prepared leaf fragments

Question 3 · multiple choice

Which time-use clue would fit a Leafcutter ant rather than the other choices?

workers forage day and night depending on temperature and humidity warms in sun before and after cold-water feeding dives often hunts at dawn, dusk, or night travels and feeds by day and builds a new sleeping nest

Question 4 · multiple choice

Which movement pattern makes sense for the body design of a Leafcutter ant?

swims by waving its flattened tail while legs trail backward walks in organised trails carrying leaf pieces overhead uses fin ripples for slow travel and jet propulsion for escape moves through trees by deliberate climbing and flexible arm reaching

Question 5 · multiple choice

What specialised feature helps a Leafcutter ant solve an everyday survival problem?

special electric organs produce weak sensing pulses and powerful hunting shocks nostrils can close against dust during digging different worker sizes cut leaves, defend trails, garden fungus, and remove waste spines protect the back while a long sticky tongue gathers prey

Question 6 · multiple choice

A field diary describes the early life of a Leafcutter ant. Which entry is correct?

cubs remain with their mother while learning to hunt a joey grows in the pouch and later rides on its mother’s back chicks hatch in a ground colony and are fed regurgitated fish a queen starts a nest using a small piece of fungus carried from her birth colony

Question 7 · multiple choice

Which relationship pattern is normal for a Leafcutter ant?

colonies contain millions of specialised workers breeds in colonies with many nests on one tree males call from leaves and may guard egg clutches mostly solitary but gathers at dense food patches

Question 8 · multiple choice

Which ecosystem job can be connected to a Leafcutter ant?

acts as a top predator that influences prey numbers and movement prunes vegetation, moves soil, and redistributes nutrients disperses seeds and consumes varied dryland foods feeds and ventilates its host while receiving protection

Question 9 · multiple choice

What protection strategy best matches a Leafcutter ant's body and behaviour?

changes colour, flattens the body, hisses, and bites inflates into a difficult-to-swallow shape and may contain tetrodotoxin soldier workers bite while smaller workers may ride leaves to deter parasites roars, displays teeth, and defends territory cooperatively

Question 10 · true false

True or False: A leafcutter ant does not eat the leaves directly; the colony eats fungus grown on them.

True False