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Ants Marching
A short and strange news item: scientists have apparently uncovered that ants navigate by counting their steps.
Ants use an internal pedometer to find their way home without getting sidetracked, a new study reports.
Desert ants on foraging expeditions use celestial cues to orient themselves in the homeward direction, but with few landmarks in the barren land, scientists have wondered how the insects always take the most direct route and know exactly how far to march.
The new study reveals that counting their steps is a crucial part of the scheme.
It seems that the way they tested this hypothesis was by constructing tiny ant stilts which lengthened the strides. On another group, they chopped off the ants feet which shortened the stride lengths:
The ants on stilts took the right number of steps, but because of their increased stride length, marched past their goal. Stump-legged ants, meanwhile, fell short of the goal.
After getting used to their new legs, the ants were able to adjust their pedometer and zero in on home more precisely, suggesting that stride length serves as an ant pedometer.
Boy, I can sure rest easy now that this crucial mystery has been put to rest!
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July 13th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
I’ve noticed while observing ants marching to an fro from whatever they are harvesting to their home that every single one of them ’shakes hands’ with every other one marching the opposite way (or touching antennae) kind of like after a basketball game when you see the 2 teams line up and shake each others hands. This can be amusing to watch when a lot of them meet up and a line forms.
July 14th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Wow, it was definitely worth chopping off those little ants’ feet for that groundbreaking advance in scientific trivia. But, like a lot of trivia, it’s interesting.
Wicked site you have here, Tim. Where’ve you been all my life?
July 14th, 2006 at 3:08 am
Personally I’d like witness the proceedure for putting stilts on an ant. That’s worth the price of admission in and of itself.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:16 am
it is fascinating watching ants working as if they are working as part of one greater mind. it is fascinating watching humanity from the same perspective.
July 14th, 2006 at 10:32 am
is a single ant intelligent enough to design and build an ant hill?
is there a mind that emerges as a function of groups of ants/people that isn`t available to the individual?
July 14th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
I wonder if the kids who burn ants with magnifing glasses grow up to make great strides in understanding how ants survive
July 14th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
they would certainly have the stomach for removing thier legs in the name of science…..
July 14th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
They’re right, I really suck at navigating when people cut my feet off or if I’m wearing stilts.
Hmm, I always thought that ants left pheromone trails and that’s how they navigate; but maybe I’m just thinking of SimAnt.
Oh this is completely unrelated, but I found this story today so I thought I’d jam it in here. (I’m also sucking at signing in to the forums):
“Scientists Eliminate the Need for Males”
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/research/sc...iminate-the-need-for-males-187421.php
July 15th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
scary link……..which scientists by the way?