Ant-following birds in the Americas and Africa

Abstract

People of "developed" regions pay much attention to animals outside the forest. To learn the value of tropical forests, it is good to know their animals, such as the army ants and the birds that follow them in the understory. In the neotropics, there are "armies" of Eciton and Labidus ants, with many birds following them to catch fleeing insects. Antbirds cling to small upright trunks, with up to 6 kinds at swarms near the equator, and less in uplands or away from the equator. Big birds attack small ones, which flee to swarm edges where there are few insects for big birds. Each species can have several pairs, the territory owners dominating visitors, but letting them stay. Woodcreepers climb up large trunks, females of small species not letting males help with nests because they have to fly far off when big paired woodcreepers take over the swarm. Small ones dont pair up because they could be predated in the open understory if he followed her. In second growth or low woods, tanagers and other monogamous pairs use low branches that protect them from predators and are sites for watching over ants. Cuckoos like "roadrunners" of open deserts run on the ground around ants. In eastern and western Africa, "safari ants" attract dozens of birds, including one that acts like a roadrunner, but there are no antbirds or woodcreepers adapted for vertical trunks. There are many thrushes, using the ground or low twigs near ants, as in the neotropics. Asia lacks these ants, tropical forests vary greatly in evolution of ants and ant followers.