Leaf-cutter ants with worn mandibles cut half as fast, spend twice the energy, and tend to carry instead of cut

The importance of mechanical wear in the behavioral ecology and energetics of small organisms is an open question. We investigated wear in leaf-cutter ants, Atta cephalotes, because their cutting technique can be imitated and the leaves are the main energy source for the colony. We found that a razo...

Ausführliche Beschreibung