Elephants are scared of ants! This is no myth but a proven fact.
A series of studies conducted in Kenya, Africa, have reaffirmed that a particular species of acacia tree - the whistling-thorn tree, is left untouched by marauding mammals like elephants, which normally eat thorny acacia foliage.
... The reason, the thorns of the whistling-thorn acacia are occupied by ants, which have a symbiotic relationship with the tree. The large thorns of this species of acacia tree serve as nesting sites for the ants, and the ants in turn act as bodyguards for the tree against the hungry foragers.
According to researchers Todd Palmer of the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya and the University of Florida, and Jacob Goheen, now at the University of Wyoming, elephants avoided the whistling-thorn acacia trees with ants in the trials. However, elephants inflicted severe damage on the same species of acacia trees from which ants had been removed.
The results of the studies were published online on September 2 in Current Biology, a scientific journal.
But is an elephant, known for its large size and brute strength, really scared of the ant swarms? Yes, it is.
Though the elephant has a thick and rough skin, there are areas in which the skin is paper-thin and sensitive, like behind the ears, by the eye and on the abdomen, chest, shoulders and inside the trunk. So an elephant feeding on ant-infested trees will end up with a lot of bites and stings.
After all, even the mighty elephant has its weak spots and its own fears!
With elephants having a large appetite, they can convert a dense woodland into an open grassland in a short span of time. It appears that such widespread changes are being prevented by the acacia-dwelling ants.
The results of the trials highlight the powerful role the tiny ants play in the major ecosystem in the African savanna, a landscape of dense grass and scattered trees, say Palmer and his colleague Goheen.
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