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Lions in the Kenyan savannah are becoming less and less successful at hunting zebras. According to scientists, this is due to the disruption of the species balance by invasive ants. They displaced native ant species, which led, among other things, to lions losing their natural shelter in acacia groves. And that makes hunting more difficult.
A lion attacks in a similar way to a domestic cat – it sneaks as close to its prey as possible and pounces on it from just a few meters away. Thanks to the acceleration it can develop over short distances, it rarely misses its food. However, this only applies if he can sneak up on her unnoticed.
New research published in the journal Science shows that even a small change in the natural environment can have far-reaching consequences. In this case, the tiny ants were able to disrupt the hunt for the large animals by destroying the relationships built over the years. When hunting, lions in the savannah use shelter in the foliage of acacia trees, which until recently was protected by a certain species of acacia ant (Pseudomyrmex ferruginea).
They were able to prevent the elephants from saving the leaves because they scared them off with their poisonous bites – and thanks to this the acacias were still green. But the invasive ant species (Pheidole megacephala) displaced the acacias, which led, among other things, to elephants reintroducing these plants into their diet and lions no longer being able to hide easily between the bare branches when hunting.
“In areas where invasive ants have invaded, elephants graze trees five to seven times faster than where there are no ants,” wrote study co-author Todd Palmer of the University of Florida. While elephants can graze more green leaves, lions are up to three times less successful at hunting.
“Lions need protection to successfully pursue and ambush their prey – and they lack this when there are fewer trees to hide behind, making it much more difficult for them to hunt zebras,” Palmer explained. According to him, research shows how important even the less obvious relationships between individual species in nature are.
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