The ants go marching one by one…because of pheromones.
We’ve all seen ants moving in a single-file line across a sidewalk, through the grass, or even on a picnic blanket, but have you ever stopped to think about the complexity of their behavior? Ants, like other colonizing insects (bees and termites), exhibit very organized social behavior. This behavior occurs because of pheromones, or chemical signals that allow the insects to communicate. They can also communicate through sound and touch, but they most often use these chemicals to mark trails, lead other ants in the colony to food, or even let other ants know when to attack.
Check out this 60-Second Science to see these ants in action:
As a foraging ant finds food, it marks its path with pheromones on the way back to the colony in order to lead others to the food source. As other ants follow the path, they reinforce it with their own trail of pheromones. This is the reason why you will find ants marching in a single-file line to come join the family picnic. You’ve probably also seen what happens if a line of ants is disrupted. If the trail is broken, the leading ants behind the obstacle will explore routes around it until a new path is discovered and reinforced. These behaviors allow ants to adjust to their surroundings and increase their chance of survival and success in their ecosystem.
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Because of their advanced communication, they also live in highly specialized colonies with division of labor between workers, drones, and queens. In a typical ant farm, you can observe the persistent behavior of a small group of workers (usually harvester ants) who will tunnel through the substrate as they collect food and maintain their colony.
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