What they're actually doing is taking these leaves back into the nest and once they're there, they use the leaves to grow a fungus. ADAM:'Leaf cutter ants, despite their name, don't eat leaves.

Those ants don’t eat the leaves — instead they bring them back to their nests to feed a garden of fungi, which produce food for the ants. Researchers have now used DNA analysis to uncover just ...

the fungus is then continuously cared for. They even use pesticides to remove unwanted fungal strains or pests from their precious crop. Other ant species herd aphid 'cattle', which they eat and ...

The researchers cultured a fungus that, in the wild ... which secrete a substance called honeydew that ants eat. The ants “milk” the aphids by stroking the tiny insects with their antennae ...