Herding aphids

With all the heavy rain over the last couple of days, I noticed that the ants on a sapling willow in my garden had gathered in all their aphids on the underside of a well sheltered leaf. These sap feeding aphids really are herded and farmed by the ants. The aphids get their own food from the plants and pass some of it on to the ants in the form of nutritious honeydew. The ants have even learnt to stimulate the aphids to produce honeydew dropets by stroking their backs with their antennae. They protect the aphids from predators and move them around the plant to feed on the softest tissue.

It all seems to be wonderfully symbiotic - a happy miniature pastoral scene. However, recent research has shown exactly who is boss. The ants will sometimes clip the wings off aphids to stop them flying away...and they can use chemicals in their feet to tranquilise and subdue the aphids, keeping them a captive herd. They will even eat some of the aphids from time to time as they manage the herd. Remind you of any mammal?