Those long lines of ants hauling leaf pieces aren’t carrying dinner. They’re running farms. Leafcutter ants cut leaves and carry them back to their nests, not to eat, but to use as fertilizer.

Inside their underground colonies, they chew the leaves into pulp and spread it out to grow a special fungus. That fungus is their true food source. In fact, the ants and the fungus can’t live without each other — a perfect example of symbiosis.

So when you see ants marching with leaves overhead, you’re watching one of nature’s most successful farmers at work.