Lions certainly deserve their prestige as emperors of the African savanna, but they’ve recently been humbled by a tiny, pesky troublemaker: ants. A team of researchers noticed that the invasive big-headed ant species has been putting a damper on lions’ predation patterns by inadvertently assisting their main prey, zebras.
Researchers led by University of Wyoming Ph.D. student Douglas Kamaru spotted this occurrence at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The results, published in Science, show a domino effect that leaves lions with the short end of the stick.
It all started when big-headed ants — likely coming from on an island in the Indian Ocean — pervaded East African environments with whistling-thorn trees, which have a special, symbiotic relationship with native ants.
The trees provide nectar and shelter for native ants, and to return the favor, these ants protect them from animals looking to take a bite to eat; whenever herbivores try ...
