Texas cutter ants

Fijian ants were first world farmers, new research shows

Texas cutter ants
A pair of Texas leaf cutter ants. Researchers at University of Munich have found that Fijian ants may have been first farmers.

 

It turns out that humans were not the only farmers around. As a matter of fact humans just started farming about 12, 000 years ago but ants have been farming for about 3 million years!

According to new research from University of Munich, Fijian ants are the first in the world to be farmers. The ants actually sow the seeds and nature it to grow. The ants depend on these plants for their actual survival. They use the plant leaves for shelter and can also

It suggests that Fijian ants has been farming plants for about three million years. It turns out that these ants needs rely on the plants for shelter and food. And the plants rely on the ants to sow it’s seeds.

Brian Fisher entomologist-in-residence at the California Academy of Sciences, told NPR news that the story of these Fijian ants are unique in that although there are ants that already disperse seeds and there are already ants that feed plants, but the Fijian ants does both and actually depends on the plant for survival.

Read the whole story at the Christian Science Monitor.