Insect and butterfly world in Edinburgh

[Deansie26]

[Acromyrmexbob]

That set up is probably the oldest, or one of the oldest, in the UK. Its been there as long as I can remember. They originally had Atta mexicana which died after some years and they then replaced it with my very big colony in around 1990. Since then they have bought a replacement every 6-8 years approx. The current one, though, has been going for a lot of years. We should ask them to join here and do a journal of their colony and share their ideas.

[Deansie26]

Yeh would be great if they did join and talk on there colony. It was in great health when I was there, I was like a right anorak with my camera taking photos from all angles ha ha.

[Bitterlime]

I went to Butterfly world in August with my family to look ant the ant display but I couldn't find it!! Whilst looking at butterflies I noticed a massive trail of leaf cutter ants leading through the Iguana tank. I followed the trail and it led outside to the back of the building and they were devouring silver birch leaves. There were hundreds of ants going up and down this huge tree. I spoke to one of the guys who worked there and he said that they had escaped overnight and carried the queen up through a hole in a wall and dug themselves a nest behind the Terrapin enclosure. They had taken over the entire butterfly enclosure, it was amazing!

[deansyme]

I saw that too, they are now in the flight area. I was lucky enough to work there for a while and spent my lunch and break times staring into the foraging area watching them!