Leafcutter ant from Ecuador

This is Atta cephalotes, a Leafcutter ant from the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador. The head of this soldier is full of muscles that provide power to the mandibles. Leafcutter ants dissect leaves and carry the pieces to their colony’s fungus garden under ground. They cannot digest the leaves themselves but cultivate a special fungus on which they feed. Each ant can carry up to 50 times its own body weight. This is equivalent to a man carrying a van over his head! Watch them at work: