Ants in your pants? That's nothing compared with ants up your snout. And that's what elephants in the African savanna must contend with when trying to snag a meal from a certain type of acacia tree.

The elephant tree (Bursera microphylla) is rarely found in the United States. It is found in the Gila Range of Arizona and, more commonly, in Baja California and Sonora, Mexico. For many years it was ...

Ants living in whistling-thorn acacia trees on the African savanna may weigh only 3 milligrams, but they can protect their trees from being demolished by elephants weighing a billion times more, ...

On a swollen thorn, Crematogaster mimosae workers attack invading C. mimosae workers from a neighboring colony. UC Davis researchers in Africa have a riveting tale of natural balance gone bad, with an ...

Ecologists have discovered the secret weapon used by certain acacia trees to defend themselves against ravenous elephants: ants. The finding could one day help conservationists protect vulnerable ...

Journal of Tropical Ecology, Vol. 31, No. 1 (JANUARY 2015), pp. 1-12 (12 pages) We report on a 2009 survey of Acacia woodlands in the Seronera area of central Serengeti, Tanzania, and compare the ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract Damage caused by elephants was monitored in two woodland stands of Zakouma National Park (Chad) between February and March 1998. The Acacia ...