Rainforest Leaf Cutter Ants Showcase

 Among the thousands of species of insects of tropical rainforest, the most intriguing and fascinating are the leaf cutters; which farm mushrooms underground using mulch chewed from leaves stripped from specific plants & trees. This have evolved an advanced agricultural system based on ant-fungus mutualism: They don't feed on leves, but on special structures produced by that specialized fungus that grows only in the underground chambers of the ant burrow! So give a naturalist hue to your Costa Rica vacation with this animal kingdom's oddity.

Rainforest Ants Showcase
Location: Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica. Hotel Los Lagos
Schedule: 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Includes: Rainforest Ants Showcase in charge's explanation with facts about leaf cutter ants.
Recommendations: Camera with good optical zoom (best with macro lens).
Price: Access is included with your hotel reservation or hotel entrance fee.
*Because of ants cutting leaf natural behavior that justify its name, please don't try to touch the ants!.

The leaf cutter ant queen can be 2 inch in size, and live more than 20 years. Leaf Cutter Ants tote cargo throughout rainforest to their burrow. Despite plant devastation, these ants are recycling nutrients in the rainforest ecosystem. Leaf cutter ants settle down large trails in the rain forest ground.

 Leaf-cutter ants can be seen in large trails, as if parading, through the Costa Rica tropical rainforest ground on work by tote cargo (cut leaf bits) to their nests, where it will be mulched into fertilizer to farm the specialized fungus that produces special structures called gongylidia on which ants feed. The ants actively cultivate their fungus, feeding it with freshly-cut plant material and maintaining it free from pests and molds. This ant activity is much like humans farm crops as a food source, and the leaf-cutter ants and fungi are dependent on each other for survival, making this fact a good example of symbiosis.

Despite the potential damage that cutter-leaf ants can made to valuable plants, they can be very useful. The anthill is formed by the accumulation of ant waste from the internal cavities, and this material can be used as a very quality organic fertilizer in human farming.

A mature leafcutter colony can contain more than 7 million ants, mostly sterile female workers. They are divided into castes, based mostly on size, that perform different functions. Size and functional difference is determined by its specialized food while at larval stage. In Costa Rica tropical rainforest ants four castes are present in established colonies - minims, minors, workers and soldiers. Majors are also known as soldiers or dinergates. Often a minim will sit on the worker ant and protects from parasitic pest attacks.

The queen ant is the hearth of the ant burrow ant and is the mother of all the others. As one of the larger ants in the world, can be 2 inch in size, live for more that 20 years and to put on millions of eggs. This work is made once time a year (from May to June in Costa Rica) with amounts of 50,000 eggs.

Don't forget that after an intense and active tour day you can enjoy relax in the natural hot springs hotel facilities and get relax, health and beauty at our Fangus Spa Resort.