When Tiny, Invasive Ants Go Marching In...And Alter An Ecosystem

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2024

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

At the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a wildlife preserve in central Kenya, lions and cheetahs mingle with zebras and elephants across many miles of savannah – grasslands with "whistling thorn" acacia trees dotting the landscape here and there. Twenty years ago, the savanna was littered with them. Then came invasive big-headed ants that killed native ants — and left the acacia trees vulnerable. Over time, elephants have knocked down many of the trees. That has altered the landscape — and the diets of other animals in the local food web.

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Transcript

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0:17.0	You're listening to shortwave from NPR.
0:22.0	Hey short waivers, Regina Barber, and this time I've got two of our favorites for our regular roundup of science news.
0:29.0	Wanna Summers, hey Wanna.
0:31.0	Hello, thank you for letting me hang out again.
0:33.3	And Science correspondent Ping Huang, Hey, Ping!
0:35.9	Hey Regina, hey Wanna.
0:37.9	As always, we're going to share three science stories in the news that have caught our attention
0:41.4	recently.
0:42.4	Number one, how a bunch of tiny invasive ants
0:44.9	have changed how elephants at and what lions eat.
0:47.5	What a sample of ancient chewing gum tells us
0:49.6	about dental care and diets in the stone age?
0:51.9	And then billions of cicadas appearing this spring.
0:55.0	All that on this episode of Shortwave, the Science Podcast from NPR. PR.
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