Ants in your pants? That's nothing compared with ants up your snout. And that's what elephants in the African savanna must contend with when trying to snag a meal from a certain type of acacia tree.

Ants known to defend certain species of Acacia trees from elephant predation deter the massive herbivores so effectively that they are impacting entire savanna ecosystems, according to a study ...

Ecologists have discovered the secret weapon used by certain acacia trees to defend themselves against ravenous elephants: ants. The finding could one day help conservationists protect vulnerable ...

Ants living in whistling-thorn acacia trees on the African savanna may weigh only 3 milligrams, but they can protect their trees from being demolished by elephants weighing a billion times more, ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American It's a David versus Goliath kind of story, ...

On a swollen thorn, Crematogaster mimosae workers attack invading C. mimosae workers from a neighboring colony. UC Davis researchers in Africa have a riveting tale of natural balance gone bad, with an ...

Ants are not out of their weight class when defending trees from the appetite of nature's heavyweight, the African elephant, a new study finds. Columns of angered ants will crawl up into elephant ...

A herd of elephants hobbles past a cluster of acacia trees to a water-hole deep in Zimbabwe's vast Hwange game reserve, attracted by the drone of generators pumping water round the clock into the pool ...

Ants in your pants? That's nothing compared with ants up your snout. And that's what elephants in the African savanna must contend with when trying to snag a meal from a certain type of acacia tree.

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts. Ecologists have discovered the secret weapon used by certain acacia ...