Researchers find that the ants of the acacia tree are tipped off to the presence of herbivores by vibrations that run throughout the trees when an animal gets too close or begins to chew. As a ...

Ants living in Africa's acacia trees can tell the difference between the vibrational patterns made by wind and those made by a munching herbivore.

In the harsh, dry landscapes where few plants survive, one tree stands tall - the acacia. In this episode, we explore how ...

Researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on Feb. 14 find that the ants of the acacia tree are tipped off to the presence of herbivores by vibrations that run throughout the trees when ...

Ant-acacia plants attract ants by offering specialized food and hollow thorns in which the ants live, while the ant colony in turn defends its acacia against herbivores. This mutualistic ...

The story of how tiny ants managed to push lions to kill more African buffalo shows what can happen when an invasive species arrives.

Ants in your pants? That's nothing compared with ants up your snout. And that's what elephants in the African savanna must contend with when trying to snag a meal from a certain type of acacia tree.

These thorny trees had developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the local acacia ant: The trees provide shelter and food for the ants and in return they use their stinging bite to ...

The presence of mutualistic ants greatly reduces bacterial abundance on surfaces of acacia leaves and has a visibly positive effect on plant health. Study results indicate that symbiotic bacteria ...

The invasive ant species spreads quickly across the landscape, leaving many empty trees in its wake which are subject to being knocked down and eaten by elephants. The ants shown here are C. nigriceps ...

In Central America, the bullhorn acacia is guarded by mutualistic ants that, in addition to living in hollowed-out swollen thorns and feeding on nectar, feed on nutrient-rich food bodies produced ...

Ants living in whistling-thorn acacia trees on the African savanna may weigh only 3 milligrams, but they can protect their trees from being demolished by elephants weighing a billion times more ...