World News for Students of English

05-09-2025 07:00

In the early 2000s, invasive big-headed ants arrived in Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau, probably through imported goods.

These ants formed huge super-colonies, hunting insects, spiders, and even birds. Their arrival disrupted the ecosystem, particularly the relationship between whistling-thorn acacia trees and their protective acacia ants. Normally, acacia ants defend the trees against herbivores like elephants by swarming and biting. However, big-headed ants killed native ants and destroyed their nests. Without this protection, acacia trees became weak, lost leaves, and collapsed more often. This changed the savannah landscape, leaving fewer trees and more open grasslands.

The new environment affected lions’ hunting strategies. Lions usually prefer zebras, which they ambush in tree-rich areas. With fewer trees, zebras escaped more easily, so lions increasingly targeted dangerous buffalo instead. This chain reaction shows how a tiny invasive species can transform an ecosystem, influencing plants, insects, and even top predators like lions.

Difficult words: disrupt (to stop something from working normally), swarm (to move together in a large group, usually busily or aggressively), ambush (to wait and attack someone or an animal suddenly, usually from a hidden place).

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