Protea mundii ant patrol

The ants in picture have a keen interest in what is available to eat at the top of the Protea mundii bud that is barely disclosing its first perianth tips. The terrain being explored is densely covered in soft white hairs, the longest of which grow along the margins of the inner involucral bracts of the head.

The brown tips that appear on outer bracts start in the second row from the inside already, the tips there hairless (Manning, 2007; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).