Jun 30, 2011
Lots of ants practise a rudimentary form of agriculture. Some are gardeners, gathering leaf fragments on which they cultivate a crop of tasty fungus. Others are dairymaids, "milking" the sweet excretion known as honeydew from aphids, scale insects and other related insects.
But the Melissotarsus ants of continental Africa and Madagascar are special. If biologists' best guess proves correct, these ants raise their insect herds for meat, not milk – the first example of meat farmers other than humans. And that's not all. The insects they cultivate may be the best example of true domestication outside of our crop plants.
Vegans, please direct all rage at Melissotarsus ants.