Ants that raise insects for meat

It might be time to cross another thing off the list of "Stuff That Only Humans Do." Some researchers think that a species of ants raise other animals (in this case, insects) for the sole purpose of eating those animals. If they're right, it's the first time that this behavior will have been documented in a species other than humans. (There are ants that "milk" other insects, but that's different.) (Via Rowan Hooper)

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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Anonymous

Maggie,
Your posts are always so interesting and informative. Thanks you.
As for ants milking other insects, ants protecting aphids comes to mind each time I see the blasted pests in my garden.
Anonymous

Cicada Killers are lone-wolf kidnappers.
Oh the horror!

These ants are raising livestock for carnivorous purposes.

I for one…. meh.
Dane

I’m pretty sure this is happening on the milkweed growing in my back yard right now… :-)
Mister44

Aren’t there some that cultivate fungus?
- xunker
  
  You’re thinking of Leafcutter ants, and yes, they do.
Anonymous

Cicada Killers will paralyze cicadas and let them live for extended periods of time so they may lay their eggs on them, allowing their larvae to feed off the still-living cicada. Is this the same thing?
Anonymous

Is “making lists” on the list?
MrBawn

Reminds me of this: http://buttersafe.com/2010/08/26/what-it-means-to-be-alive/
anharmyenone

PETA hardest hit.