Then came invasive big-headed ants that killed native ants — and left the acacia trees vulnerable. Over time, elephants have knocked down many of the trees.

There are more than 20,000 species of ants, including such noticables as picnic ants, sidewalk ants, carpenter ants, and so on. Less noted by most of us, there are also many mutualistic ants that ...

Lions, elephants, zebras, buffalo, ants, and trees are all locked in an intricate ecological web in one Kenyan nature preserve. But that web is unraveling as a small invader disrupts the natural ...

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Pien Huang of Short Wave about a double emergence of cicadas this spring, invasive ants in Kenya, and the secrets in an ancient wad of chewing gum.

Native acacia ants are killed by the smaller invasive big-headed ants, leaving whistling-thorn trees defenseless against elephants. Credit: Pat Milligan When people talk about the interconnectedness ...

First, the big-headed ants outcompete native acacia ants in the genus Crematogaster. These ants have developed a close partnership with the whistling-thorn tree (Vachellia drepanolobium), a common ...

Ants known to defend certain species of Acacia trees from elephant predation deter the massive herbivores so effectively that they are impacting entire savanna ecosystems, according to a study ...

The interactions that make these trees and these ants so reliant on each other are numerous and fascinating. The trees house and feed the ant colony, and the ants protect the tree and make sure it has ...

Acacia ant strongholds are thickly carpeted with whistling-thorns. Big-headed ants, however, are not so good at keeping the elephants at bay.

Ant Acacia + Birds While it’s smart for many species, Homo spaniens included, to try to avoid interacting with ant acacia trees, some species of birds seek them out. They see a thorny tree covered in ...