Ants can’t be fooled: Scientists discover the insects use their memory to help them avoid traps and predators the second time around
- Ants usually find their way back to their nests by following trails of pheromones
- Researchers tested how the insects would react when a pit was dug in the trail
- They found the ants fell in the first time — but went on to avoid the trap instead
Ants are can learn to avoid danger after just one risky experience.
The social insects are known to be brilliant navigators who use trails of pheromones to help them find their way back to their nests.
However, a study suggests that ants also use their visual memories to help avoid previously encountered pitfalls like predators and traps by changing their route.
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Ants are so brainy they learn can to avoid danger after just one risky experience, a study found
The study was undertaken by animal behaviour experts Antoine Wystrach of the University of Toulouse, in France, and colleagues.
The researchers said that ants can link visual cues with negative experiences and memorise potentially dangerous routes.
In their experiment, the team ‘trapped’ desert ants by placing a pit trap with slippery walls in the insects’ path on the approach towards their nest.
From this trap, a small bridge hidden by twigs was the ants’ only exit.
Two ant species were tested — Melophorus bagoti from Australia and Cataglyphis fortis from the Sahara.
The first time individual ants encountered the trap, they all rushed — at around 2 miles per hour (almost one metre a second) — towards the nest and fell into the hole.
On just the second attempt, however, the ants changed their behaviour to avoid the pit.
As they approached the trap, some of the ants first stopped to scan their environment, before making a detour around the pit and safely reaching the nest.
Ants are known to be brilliant navigators who use trails of pheromones to help them find their way back to their nests. However, a study suggests that ants also use their visual memories to help avoid previously encountered pitfalls like predators and traps by changing their route
In their experiment, the team ‘trapped’ desert ants by placing a pit trap with slippery walls in the insects’ path on the approach towards their nest. The first time individual ants encountered the trap, they all rushed — at around 2 miles per hour (almost one metre a second) — towards the nest and fell into the hole. On just the second attempt, however, the ants changed their behaviour to avoid the pit
The researchers demonstrated that the ants’ visual memories going back a few seconds before they fell in to the pit had been retrospectively associated with the fall — allowing them to avoid the trap the second time around.
‘Now our goal is to implement these learning mechanisms to better understand the complexity of the insect nervous system,’ said Dr Antoine Wystrach.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Current Biology.
HOW DO ANTS USE MATHS TO BUILD ‘LIVING BRIDGES’?
Several species of ant build ‘living bridges’ made of their own bodies to traverse small gaps.
Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology showed in 2015 that up to 20 per cent of a colony may be locked into bridges on a route at any time.
This is when an individual ant may run a ‘bridging’ algorithm.
An ant can tell how many times it has been stampeded by previous ants and use this to judge the width of the bridge.
When this hits a certain number, an ant – judging that too many members of the colony may now occupy bridges – may rejoin the march.
Several species of ant build ‘living bridges’ made of their bodies to traverse small gaps