The engineering and defensive skills of red wood ants help the endangered species transcend its small stature in the natural world.

They often live alongside colonies of aphids, which secrete a substance called honeydew that ants eat. The ants “milk” the aphids by stroking the tiny insects with their antennae; to keep the ...

Other ant species herd aphid 'cattle', which they eat and also milk for honeydew, a plant sap excreted by the aphids. They even have their own ‘fences’ to prevent the aphids from straying away.