Subterranean farmers
one of the most important chapters in the story of human development began 10,000 years ago, when human beings, through trial and error, discovered agriculture. A steady supply of food brought them security and stability, and soon our primitive forefathers abandoned their nomadic, chaotic life to settle down.
Since then, agriculture has witnessed impressive progress. Cultivated crops not only exchanged hands, but continents too. Coffee, originally a crop from Ethiopia, soon found its way into Europe's living rooms, while Mexico's tobacco cultivation became a worldwide phenomenon. And everyone knows how potato, after originating in Latin America, became one of the most widely travelled crops.
Over the centuries, sociologists have sung various eulogies to agriculture for triggering civilisation as we know it. But reserve the pat on the back for someone else. Humans were not the first to discover the Earth's fertility. Ants, by doing so first, beat humans by some 50 million years.
Scientists know of three insect groups that cultivate and eat fungi. These include ants ( Attini ), macrotermitine termites and some wood-boring beetles. While the beetles are few and are not of comparable importance, the fungus-growing ants and termites are very dominant ecologically.
With a few exceptions, all fungus-growing ants are also leafcutters