All printables
Leafcutter Ant — printable fact sheet
Free to print or save as PDF. Great for classrooms, homeschooling, and young explorers.
Creature Atlas
Animal Fact Sheet
Name: ____________________
Date: ____________________
Leafcutter Ant
Atta cephalotes
Leafcutter ants do not eat the leaves they carry. They are farmers: the cut fragments are hauled underground, cleaned, chewed to a pulp and used as compost to grow a fungus that the colony cultivates and lives on — an agricultural system that predates human farming by tens of mi…
Did you know?
- Leafcutter ant colonies can contain more than 8 million individuals, making them one of the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth.
- Leafcutter ants do not eat leaves — they use them as compost to farm an edible fungus underground. They were practising agriculture tens of millions of years before humans existed. They protect the fungus crop with antibiotic-producing bacteria grown on their own bodies. The tiniest workers ride on the carried leaves, fighting off parasitic flies.
What I learned
Draw the leafcutter ant
© Creature Atlas · www.creatureatlas.com · Free for classroom & personal use
Want the whole set?
Get printable fact-sheet packs, coloring pages, and classroom worksheet bundles for dozens of animals — ready to download and print.
Browse printable packsGet a free printable each week
Join the newsletter for a new Creature of the Week + printables.