Leaf-Cutter Ants Can't Digest Leaves

Leaf-cutter ants are also know as farmer ants, because they farm a fungus. That fungus metabolizes leaf matter, which the ants collect from the forest, mulch up with some ant spit, and feed to the fungus. In return, the fungus creates Gongylidia and oozes nectar, all of which feeds the ant colony.

Happy fungus, happy hive. It's one of nature's beautiful symbiotic relationships.

Similarly, many humans are trying to make sense of the world by taking notes, enhancing those notes, and exploring shared notetaking. tktk

As background:

Here's an informative introduction to the symbiotic relationship some ants have with some fungi:

Finally, here's another documentary on the subject, Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony, plus this nexus in Jerry's Brain.

This all to explain our fondness for the metaphor of The Big Fungus.