Before you venture into the Amazon's pristine rainforest, locals will remind you that when you encounter the Devil's Garden, be sure to take a detour. If you accidentally walk into the Devil's Garden, you'll probably never come out again.
You trek through a forest covered with trees and vines. Suddenly, a large clearing appeared in front of us, the sun was shining overhead, and there was only a short shrub on the ground. This bright and empty area, like a peach blossom garden, is the legendary devil's garden that will trap the lone traveler's footsteps and make him disoriented.
In Peruvian legend, the owner of the Devil's Garden was a lame dwarf with a normal human foot on his right foot and an upside-down sheep's hoof on his left foot. The hiccup has the magic of transformation, will turn into a friend you know, lure you into the depths of the Amazon's dense forest, and then there will be no more. You'll keep taking a detour in the bushes and never get out of that area.
Why is the Devil's Garden so scary? Because no one can understand why in the depths of the primeval rainforest, there is such a flat and empty area. The strangest thing is that the rainforest is full of all kinds of trees, flowers, and grasses, while the devil's garden has only a low, stuffed trunk of a shrub, and there is not even a single weed on the ground. If it weren't for the devil coming every day to weed and clean it, why weren't there any other plants in the garden?
The Devil's Garden in the Amazon rainforest, more than one. These empty gardens range in size and location, with little to no pattern, and the only thing in common is that the same plant is planted in them. Could it be that the devil in the devil's garden is none other than this shrub?
Biologists heard about this strange place and rushed to investigate. They speculated that the dwarf shrubs in the garden, in order to compete for growth territory, would release a poisonous smell and kill the surrounding plants. The shrubs cut out a piece of the earth and harvested the scarce sunlight in the rainforest. Biologists took the shrubs back to the lab for analysis, but didn't find the answers they wanted. Shrubs are ordinary, from the leaves to the roots, they are not poisonous and do not release corrosive gases. If you plant the shrub seedlings with other plants, everyone will grow together in peace.
Since the bush is fine, who is the devil? Stanford University sent a team to the Amazon rainforest to explore the truth. The expedition went deep into the rainforest, and just as they had just found a devil's garden, it suddenly changed. Dark clouds rolled over the clear sky, the wind howled, and a storm was about to come. At this time, the horror scene that only exists in the movie occurs. The expedition suddenly saw a large swarm of ants running from all directions, and the army of ants rushed out of the rainforest and rushed to the Devil's Garden. Fortunately, the target of the Ant Legion was not humans, they crossed the expedition team and lined up to climb the branches of the bush. Curiously, when the ants climbed under the leaves of the shrub, they disappeared.
The team plucked the leaves and saw a small swollen ball at the petiole, cut open, hollow inside, and the ants hid in the middle. Also, the trunks of the shrubs are hollow, and the ant colonies live in them. They also grow aphids in hollow trunks and are sucking up the sap of trees.
The expedition went into the Devil's Garden, and in a bush they had picked by hand, the hollow trunk was full of ants. A rough calculation shows that there are at least 1 million ants stationed in this garden. Could it be that the owner of the garden is an ant, and the ant is the devil of legend? Devil ants tend the garden, clearing weeds and leaving only the shrubs that can make their home.
How do they do it? The team began experimenting on the ground, planting 2 Spanish cedar trees in the garden, enclosing 1 tree to prevent ants from climbing up, and 1 tree without protection. The ants quickly climbed up the unprotected cedar tree and began to nibble on the bark and leaves. After 5 days, all the leaves of this cedar withered and fell. The barrier-added cedar is still growing well.
Experiments confirmed the team's conjecture that the ants were able to remove unwanted trees in time. It injects ant venom into the trunk, a form of formic acid that kills cedar. Most ants can produce formic acid, which is its defensive tool against enemies. And ants actually use formic acid as a herbicide to quickly kill plants, which no one knew before.
The team looked up rainforest data from recent years and found that the area of Devil's Garden grew by an average of 7‰ per year. The largest devil's garden in the rainforest, covering an area of more than 1,000 square meters, is home to 3 million ants, 15,000 thousand queens, and everyone works together to build a home. It is estimated that this garden has existed for more than 800 years.
Leveling the land and growing food is not the prerogative of human beings, even a small ant can open up the territory in the forest and create a home for living and working in peace.
The Devil's Garden is not only an example of reciprocal symbiosis between shrub trees and ants, it is also a classic example of animals creating environments.
Building high walls, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming king, a weak ant race, after 800 years of generations, together to create the brightest and most transparent piece of the amazon rainforest.
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Devil's Garden