Ants Invented Farming 50 Million Years Before Humans

Ants invented farming 50 million years before humans.

Leafcutter ants in Central and South America cut leaves not to eat, but to farm. They carry them underground and chew them into paste to grow a fungus, Leucoagaricus, which they eat. It is agriculture.

They have been doing it for 50 million years. Humans invented farming about 12,000 years ago. The ants have domesticated their fungus so completely it no longer exists in the wild.

Their farms are sophisticated. Worker ants weed out moulds, use antibiotics from bacteria on their bodies to kill parasites, and manage waste. Larger colonies have garbage dumps. If a farm gets infected, workers destroy it and start over.

Genetic studies show the fungus and ants co-evolved, with the fungus producing more nutritious hyphae for ants. It is the same mutualism as humans and wheat. Ants even have castes: tiny gardeners tend fungus, larger soldiers defend, and medium foragers cut leaves. Farming, invented by insects with brains smaller than a pinhead, 50 million years before us.