Ants run secret farms on English oak trees, photographer discovers
by Patrick Barkham from on (#4YC9D)
Brown ants herd and milk giant pale aphids, building barns for them from beetle exoskeleton
Britain has a new farmed animal, which is kept in barns, milked and moved between high and low pastures - but not by humans.
The giant pale aphid, Stomaphis wojciechowskii, has lived undiscovered for thousands of years on English oak trees, where it has been looked after by brown ants.
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