Benefitting from ants | pt. 4

 

This a typical acacia tree, known commonly as mimosa, wattle and thorn - tree. Acacias are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the world, particularly Australia and Africa, where they are well known landmarks on the veld and savanna. Gum Acacia (a species of the same genus) yields a true gum which is still used in adhesives, Pharmaceuticals, ink, and other products. All acacias have one thing in common which is clearly noticeable, thorns.

Animals like giraffe eat them even though they are prickly, as it's thickly evolved dark tongue finds the way through the prickles and twist, twirl and pull the branch into it's mouth, munch on them as if they are nothing. One species though among the family of acacia finds itself top amongst escaping predators, the Whistling acacia. This particular species has brownish oversized nodes on it's branches which are homes to millions of ants of a colony. The plant even offers them sweep sap for the ants. As i said mentioned before mutualism is beneficial for both the species involved, the plant get's protection because of ants. When a predator ( a herbivore) approaches it, all the ants crawling upon the plant would be a warning sign for them. This method really seems to workout in the wild than others. That's a healthy relationship.

This is a mission blue butterfly, endemic to only three specific places on earth and highly endangered species. Their caterpillars live on only three species of plants, one which is lupin.

These caterpillars are so susceptible to parasites that lay eggs in live animals !! (more on them later) Ants live around these caterpillars actually guarding them from these parasites harming them. These caterpillars in return give them honey dew (their droppings), which are eaten and highly nutritious for the ants. This relationship however is not specific to species of ants generally all ants co - operate with these caterpillars and just one wrong thing is enough these creatures to go extinct.

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J. Maanavendra roy,
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