The subject of today's video is mushroom cultivation. Humans may have achieved impressive proficiency with it, but it appears that they still have a lot to learn from the species that invented it: leaf-cutter ants.
Scientists who are studying these colonies with the view of improving fungi-assisted biofuel production, keep marvelling at both complexity and efficiency of the process. One of the things that they have found out is that it is not just the fungi that break up cellulose in plant matter, converting it to digestible food for ants, but various bacteria are an important part of the cycle, too. The amazing thing to me is that these representatives of three different kingdoms work in coordination for mutual benefit.
Enjoy, and I'll be back next week with (I hope) first proper foraging report, cooking, fungi news and more.
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