Pupils at two Cwmbran primary schools have become the proud caretakers of an extraordinary colony of leafcutter ants. These creatures are more commonly found in zoos than classrooms.
The hard-working insects moved into specially designed habitats at both the Federation of Blenheim Road Community and Coed Eva Primary Schools about six months ago.
Around 75 metres of transparent plastic tubing winds across, up, down and along the walls of the schools’ corridors.
Alison Preece, eco lead at The Federation, said: “Our children love them. They create such awe, excitement and wonder.”
The 1000s of ants spend their lives carrying bite-sized chunks of leaves from the plant to their nest 75m away, where it’s turned into fungi for them to eat.
Pupils and staff can watch as the ants carry the leaves along the tubes to their nest.
’20 miles a day’
Mrs Preece said: “It’s the equivalent of you and I walking 20 miles a day [the 75 metres].
“They work hard, which really falls in line with our school values of work hard, take pride and reflect that.
“They carry 50 times their bodyweight, which is the equivalent of a child carrying a small car. So not only do they work hard, but they’re really smart. Fifteen per cent of their body is brain. They are industrious creatures and have been around since the dinosaurs.
“When they’re born as an ant, they’re born with a specific role, and that is their role for life.
“They come, cut the leaf with their pinchers. They’re not teeth, they’ve got saws. They saw the leaf. And then they carry it all the way back to the nest.
“It’s a childhood experience that you’ll only ever get in a zoo. What an amazing experience and opportunity our children have. They’re so privileged.
“The ants are just amazing to watch. Nobody realizes how much ants are underappreciated are for their work ethic.
Leafcutter ants are ‘phenomenal’
“Every other animal in the animal kingdom eats what grows; they don’t farm it, they don’t do anything to it. They just pick food and eat it, but for these creatures to survive, they’ve had to farm, which is phenomenal when you think they’ve done that even before humans were on the planet.
“They’re really clever, smart. So say you’re a worker ant and your pinchers start getting blunt. They send you to work like in the ‘refuse collection, the dump’ because your pinchers are blunt so you’re only fit to ‘take the rubbish out’.
“They take all their rubbish and put it in the bottom of the tank because they like it clean and tidy. They don’t like working in muck.”