Untitled Document
 It seems
like elephants are invincible. The world’s biggest land animals look
very strong and brave. But did you know that they fear tiny insects?
It is hard to believe, but they are scared of ants! According to American
researchers, ants can scare off elephants.
Researchers at the University of Florida found in their new study
that elephants avoid encountering tiny ants. If hungry elephants try
to devour acacia trees, the ants that live there attack the huge animals
immediately by crawling up their trunks.
 Elephants’ trunks are highly sensitive inside although they are
tough externally. The ants protect their trees from the huge animals
by attacking their sensitive trunks.
“We found in our research that elephants don’t feed on trees that
harbor ants. In a test, the elephants avoided trees with ants on
them like a kid avoids broccoli,” said Professor Todd Palmer, who
took part in the research. “It seems that elephants simply do not
like ants swarming up the insides of their trunks.”
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