Leaf Cutting Ant (Atta cephalotes) walking with her leaf - stock photo

Leaf-cutter ants can be found in Costa Rica's grasslands, rainforests, tropical dry forests and woodlands. They build huge nests, sometimes 30 feet across and 20 feet deep, which have several entrances, perhaps hundreds of yards apart. The tiny leaf-cutter ant in Costa Rica is super strong, punches well above its weight. The leaf-cutters have the capacity to degrade biomass to cultivate their own fungus garden to feed the nest, is a source of great interest for children, tourists and scientists alike. They don't eat the leaves, instead they use it as compost to grow a particular type of fungus, which doesn't grow anywhere other than in leaf cutter ant nests.