Fungus-growing ants that make up the tribe Attini, including leafcutter ants, cultivate certain species of fungus in the Leucoagaricus or Leucocoprinus genera of the Agaricaceae family. In this ant-fungus mutualism, both species depend on each other for survival. The ant Allomerus decemarticulatus has evolved a three-way association with the host plant Hirtella physophora (Chrysobalanaceae), and a sticky fungus which is used to trap their insect prey.[105]

Funny you mention this, smiles, as I was thinking of how I had heard that ants keep other species as slaves, while making a point about humans, ethics and nature.

This is cool, too:

I find ants fascinating too. I think the symbiotic relationship between ants and aphids is really cool. Aphids expel sugars when they are feeding on plants, and ants really dig this honeydew the aphids excrete. Normally, ants will attack/kill/eat other insects, but they will not harm the aphid! In fact, the ants actually will attack any predators, such as lady bugs, that try to eat the defenseless, slow-moving aphids. The ants will even pick up aphids and move them to new feeding areas, which would be hard for an aphid to do. And, the ants will move aphids underground in the winter to prevent them from winter kill. When you see a bunch of ants on a tree, there is a good chance there is a colony of aphids somewhere and vice versa.

I also find it interesting that some people think that we are on the top of the food chain. But, I think if you ask a human parasite/virus/bacteria who is at the top of the food chain, you may get a different opinion...and possibly a human virus "thinks" humans were created by God to support their life! We have all kinds of fun and exciting symbiotic relationships going on in our own bodies even..example: we need bacteria in our gut, and they need us to survive and live out their lives...symbiosis is so cool man.

Aren't ants the strongest creature on this planet, for their size? Or is that just a myth? I think they are able to carry something like 50 times their own body weight(or a lot times their weight anyway, i havent researched this).

your thinking of Chuck Norris

Renegade queens will invade a foreign colony on their own, using special scent excretions to trick the colony into thinking it is one of their own. The foreign queen will then root out and destroy the native queen. The queens caretakers initially attempt to pull it to safety. If the native queen is killed before the confused natives can come back with a defense, the invading queen's scent causes the caretakers to immediately forget their dead queen, and acknowledge the invader as queen as if she always was so.

Ants communicate through chemical secretions that are excreted through their rear. Some ants are able to produce as many as 50 or 60 distinct scents that inform nearby ants of what is going on in the world around them. Since ants are mostly blind, this method of communication is an invaluable tool for survival. Distinct chemical scents may lead the way to prey, they may summon other ants to subdue prey, they may warn of danger, etc. When an ant is dead, it stops producing these chemicals. This is the only indicator an ant has that a nearby dead ant is in fact dead. If a living ant stopped producing these chemicals, it would be assumed dead and carried out of the colony to be discarded.

I find ants fascinating too. I think the symbiotic relationship between ants and aphids is really cool. Aphids expel sugars when they are feeding on plants, and ants really dig this honeydew the aphids excrete. Normally, ants will attack/kill/eat other insects, but they will not harm the aphid! In fact, the ants actually will attack any predators, such as lady bugs, that try to eat the defenseless, slow-moving aphids. The ants will even pick up aphids and move them to new feeding areas, which would be hard for an aphid to do. And, the ants will move aphids underground in the winter to prevent them from winter kill. When you see a bunch of ants on a tree, there is a good chance there is a colony of aphids somewhere and vice versa.

I also find it interesting that some people think that we are on the top of the food chain. But, I think if you ask a human parasite/virus/bacteria who is at the top of the food chain, you may get a different opinion...and possibly a human virus "thinks" humans were created by God to support their life! We have all kinds of fun and exciting symbiotic relationships going on in our own bodies even..example: we need bacteria in our gut, and they need us to survive and live out their lives...symbiosis is so cool man.

What would interest me is if an ant has an actual brain? Is it possible to see it and even dissect to see how the brain functions?

Sounds gross but something so small with such organizational skills amazes me.

Aren't ants the strongest creature on this planet, for their size? Or is that just a myth? I think they are able to carry something like 50 times their own body weight(or a lot times their weight anyway, i havent researched this).

Sounds like a perfect segue for Bushido to discuss intelligence as an emergent property of the brain... the individual ant does not demonstrate nearly as much intelligence as the collective activity of the ant colony does - and its even mediated (like neuron communication) with chemical messengers!

The 'nest' does complex adjustments to maintain temperature, raise young, store food, etc.