Zoology

A list of cool animals.

Collectivism

Acacia ant (Pseudomyrmex ferruginea) and Bull's horn acacia (Acacia cornigera)

Acacia ants attending their tree

Small bright packages of nutrient on the acacia's leaves

There are animals and plants that live so closely together for so long, that they become dependent of each other. This kind of long-time cooperation is called a symbiosis.

In the forests of Central America, the Acacia ant lives in symbiosis with the Bull's horn acacia. The ants act as gardeners and in reward the tree supply the ants with food.

Young ant queens leave older ant colonies to establish new colonies. Once an ant queen has found a suitable acacia tree, she lies 15 to 20 eggs in one of the tree's horn-like thorns. The colony then grows to hundreds of ants in a few months, to more than 1.000 in two years, and to more than 4.000 in three years.

At first there are few ants, so they hide as much as possible inside the tree to protect themselves. But when there are more than 400 ants, they start to protect the tree. Day and night, the ants aggressively attack animals attempting to eat the leaves of the tree. They kill insects such as crickets and sting large animals such as goats. The ants also destroy other competing plants growing near the acacia or on its branches.

In return, the tree supplies the ants with nectar and packages of protein on its leaves. The tree only produces these small packages to provide food to the ants and the ants get very angry if anything threatens their food.

So, the tree needs the ants to protect itself, and the ants need the tree to get food and to use as their home.

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba)
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Greenflies (Aphidoidea)	A
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Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia Japonica)	Created, Unass
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Leaf-cutter ant (Atta and Acromyrmex)	Unass × 3
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Naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber)	Start
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New Zealand batfly (Mystacinobia zealandica) Start
Portuguese Man o' War
(Physalia physalis) C
Sponges
(Porifera) Good
Stony corals
(Scleractinia) B
Tar-baby termite
(Globitermes sulphureus) Start
Trap ant
(Allomerus decemarticulatus) Unass

Defensive tactics

Quest for food

Locomotion

Parenthood

Parasitism

Sex

Extreme environments

References

Piper, Ross (2007). Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals. ISBN 978–0–313–33922–6. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)

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