The Amazon rainforest is home to some of the most unusual and, in some cases, dangerous on earth that show little care or interest for humans who find themselves in their habitat
A man camping in the Amazon rainforest shared the moment he was woken up by leaf cutter ants ripping apart his tent.
Conservationist Paul Rosolie was resting in the world’s largest rainforest when the tiny insects woke him from his slumber at about 2am. In a video uploaded to Reddit, Paul said he had been trying to sleep when the critters started to tear through the tent’s fabric.
“There’s about 10 million leaf cutter ants outside of this tent and all they’re doing is cutting leaf size holes out of my tent,” he said. “They are carrying away the nylon into the night and because the leaf cutter ants are working to dismantle every single thing that I own, they’re opening holes big enough to put my fist through.”
In the video, which can be seen here, several leaf cutter ants could be seen scurrying about the tent, some gripping pieces of nylon between their pincers. Due to the large holes being left in the tent by the leaf cutter ants’ antics, Paul said other things living in the Amazon were “coming into my tent.”
“Because of that I keep turning on the lights,” he continued. “I just woke up because there is a leaf cutter ant using its pincer jaws to bite my ear to carry off a piece. And in this tent right now there are ants and termites and mosquitoes.”
According to the the Rainforest Alliance, leaf cutter ants can be found on forest floors mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean. They construct underground chambers where they “farm” and harvest their staple food, fungus.
Since being shared onto the r/Damnthatsinteresting group on Monday, November 18, the clip has gone viral. Within hours the video attracted more than 17,000 upvotes and an estimated 835 comments.
The Mirror has contacted Paul Rosolie for comment via his Facebook page.
Many Reddit users who commented on the video shared their- initial reactions and how they believed they would respond to the event. It was not lost on several users that the Amazon rainforest is home to many species of animals that would be considered dangerous to humans.
User unshavenbeard64 said: “I would run and scream so loud that nearby tribes think there’s a demon coming for them.” Disastrous-Car-6417 commented: “There are Jaguars in the Amazon. It is possible that with that screaming you’re going to be someone’s meal before dawn.”
Agorafilia posted: “As someone who lived in rural areas of Brazil. Leaf cutter ants are giant ***holes. You know the saying most animals have no interest in you? Yeah, not true for these giant headed ants. They will crawl on you and bite you every single time.”
Kelpie_Lunesta added: “I’ve seen or heard of a lot of things, but I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve seen ants chewing up a tent around someone. Back in the old days, swarms of fire ants were one of the Great Dangers we were warned against, right alongside quicksand and razors in Halloween candy,.. but leaf cutter ants? Nary a peep about them.”
