1999.09.22 Do ants get lost?
ADDENDUM: I notice a wandering scout ant every once in a while. I wonder if ants ever get lost. If an ant gets transported to another area, does it try to travel back to their colony or can she join another colony?
Some ants do get lost if their trail is messed up. In this case, they may never find the way home. However, if there is another trail from the same ant colony, then they will find their home. --Angelo
There are various studies that some ants do use the sky to navigate. They use visual clues from large objects nearby to find their way to the nest (some desert species). --Mr. Ant
There are three kind of orientation:
- optical -- characteristic objects, light (e.g., rocks, plants, sun, and moon)
- positive/negative (Phototaxis) -- the angle to the light (Menotaxis)
- gravity (Geomenotaxis) -- on a slanting surface ants can move in every angle to the gravity and can use the gravity attraction as a directional aide
- chemical (Chemotaxis) as described above
--Jinei
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