Credits: Social Media
Conservationist in turmoil as tent eaten by leaf-cutter ants, exposing him to Amazon Rainforest
A conservationist in the Amazon found himself exposed to the rainforest elements as leaf-cutter ants tore his tent to pieces before his very eyes.
From lizards with iron-tipped teeth to the ever-curious nature of elephants, planet Earth really is a magnificent place. But for every adorable moment, there’s a reminder that Mother Nature could utterly destroy us if she so wished. A recent example could be the tarantula that was exposed to a rather nasty fungus.
Leaf-cutter ants chewed at his tent all night long
Rainforest Conservationist Paul Rosolie (@junglekeeper), not to be confused with Wild Charles’ Amazon adventures, is no stranger to wild encounters. After all, his profile picture is a shirtless selfie featuring an enormous snake.
During a recent excursion to the Amazon Rainforest, one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, Paul issued yet another reason you don’t want his job.
In the clip, which has since garnered 1.2 million views and almost 120k likes, Paul could be seen lying down in his tent. Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone.
“Right now my tent is being dismantled by leaf-cutter ants,” he told his followers. “It’s 2:00 am and I’ve been trying to sleep and there’s about 10 million leaf cutter ants outside of this tent.”
Paul switched his camera around to show the brilliant display of ingenuity, with the ants taking leaf-sized pieces of fabric back to their home. The ants were able to cut through the nylon fabric with ease, forming holes big enough for Paul to put his fist through.
As a result of his ant assault, Paul’s tent was filled with an array of creatures like moths, crickets, termites, mosquitos, centipedes, tarantulas, and some species even he couldn’t identify.
Though Paul was trying to get some sleep in what little early hours remained, Mother Nature had different plans as she sent ants to bite his ears and flying insects to go in his mouth.
‘I would have been sobbing’
As you might expect, Paul’s video dissuaded many TikTok users from ever camping in the Amazon Rainforest or entering into a field of work involving animals.
One person said: “The greatest part about camping in the Amazon is that you don’t have to do it.”
“As soon as I noticed the ants I would have transferred the tent elsewhere, no need to undo it just remove the spikes in the ground and move it several feet,” someone else suggested.
A third wrote: “You know what? Im no longer burned out at my office job.”
“Yap&did spend three weeks in an open tent in the Amazon. Some nights I spent with bats inside, some nights frogs. Took at least a week to get used to the loudest animal monologue in the night,” someone with prior experience wrote.
