The Butterfly Pavilion welcomed a new species of critter this month, and it's already making itself at home.
The new leafcutter ant exhibit showcases the lives of these invertebrates, who are known for gathering leaves to bring back to their colonies. The ants don't eat the leaves or use them to build nests. Instead, they use the leaves as fertilizer for tiny fungus gardens.
The fungus gardens, located deep inside the ant colony, are used to feed growing larvae. Leaves collected by roaming ants are brought back and placed on top of the gardens to fuel the fungus and keep a steady supply for the young ants.
Jennifer Quermann, a spokesperson for the pavilion, explained that getting a new exhibit running at the invertebrate zoo takes months, with the leafcutter habitat in the works for close to a year.
"Developing an exhibit requires our exhibits, animal care, and education teams to work together to not only create something fun and engaging for our ants, but also capable of keeping our ants safe and happy," Quermann said.
The exhibit took several months to build and was installed over three day. The exhibit now displays the ant colony for visitors.
Leafcutter ants are native to South and Central America, Mexico and the southern United States, with many species spanning their range. Each colony has a single queen with many of her daughters working to collect leaves and keep the colony running.
Quermann said that in addition to building the exhibit, acquiring a colony of ants is no small feat, with international regulations and ethical sourcing concerns always kept as top priorities.
"Our leafcutter ants were acquired from the Montréal Insectarium and hand transported from Canada to Colorado by a member of our animal care team," she said. "Our team spent hours on the phone with multiple national and international government agencies to ensure all of our permits were in order to bring the ants, a highly regulated group of animals, across the border."
With the ants safe in their new home, Quermann said that the pavilion is now making sure the ants have all the leaves they could ever need, working with their horticulture team to find whichever plants they like best. The leafcutter ants will help the pavilion continue their mission of educating the public about invertebrates.
"Invertebrates make up 97% of all animal species ... without them, we wouldn't be here," Quermann said. "Butterfly Pavilion provides the opportunity and experience of getting up close to these incredible creatures -- which we call our tiny heroes -- and learn more about why each species is important."