From Concrete Jungle to Actual Jungle: Reflections on Life and Work in the Rainforest
Weaving across the road, a steady line of leafcutter ants carry plant fragments back to a tree where, deep under the roots, lies a den in which the ants are cultivating the pieces into a fungal garden for their own feeding. Far above, within the canopy of the same trees, jump around howler monkeys (though they’re usually heard before they’re seen). As they munch on the vegetation above, the material will eventually pass its way through the monkeys’ guts, and facilitate seed dispersal far and wide. This ent