Leaf-Cutters and the Wee-Defense

I love science and natural phenomena. When I attended De Anza College I took an Environmental Biology class and learned about co-evolution. The example the instructor gave was of the leaf-cutter ant who could cut leaves and carry leaf pieces many times bigger than their wee ant bodies. See:

Imagine walking upon a line of these fellas?! The co-evolution  part was that when the leaf-cutters have their "hands full" they don't have any way of defending themselves from predators like moths. Moths could potentially have a juicy ant feast but there are these other ants, smaller ones, small enough to fit on the backs of the leaf-cutter's backs. I don't remember the name of these little ants, let's call them the "wee-defense". The wee-defense sit on the backs of these laboring leaf-cutter's backs who have big pieces of leaves in their mandibles and when I a moth comes down for an ant meal the wee-defense attacks! This is where my memory gets weak - I want to say that the wee-defense has some sort of nasty bite with venom but I honestly don't remember. There must be something in it for the wee-defense too. I simply can't remember whether the wee-defense would attack the moths and then get to eat them or if there is something back at the leaf-cutter's nest that is beneficial for the wee-defense. Anyhoo, neat, right? So, I was reading a book that my cousin-in-law, Paige, sent me called "The Baby Bond" and I was reading a section on the benefits of breast milk. HOLY MOLY. I would transcribe the entire section just because it is so amazing but I won't bore you with it; 

I'll just say that breast milk is the baby food of champions. 

 This is one paragraph from "The Baby Bond" that reminded me of the leaf-cutter/wee-defense relationship:

"We also know that when mothers stay close to baby and are exposed to baby's saliva via kisses an stools during diaper changes, this helps mother provide appropriate immune factors to baby through her milk. The "enteromammary pathway" is the name given to the process by which mother supplies specific immune factors in her milk according to what she has been exposed to. Baby even passes cells directly into mother's breast while nursing. When premature infants receive mother's milk in neonatal centers they receive much better immune assistance when mother is in intimate contact with the infant. High levels of sanitation between the nursing mother and her infant can prevent this valuable transaction from occuring."

Cool, right?

Image from: http://www.farelli.info/pages_bali_impressions/animals/ants.htm