DESPITE THEIR SMALL SIZE in a big world ants are known to be excellent navigators. No

DESPITE THEIR SMALL SIZE in a big world ants are known to be excellent navigators. Now, new research sheds light on how some insects figure out when they’re lost. Instead of relying on their innate homing devices, banded sugar ants (Camponotus consobrinus) use visual cues to find their way around. When these ants are taken to a novel location, they immediately realise they are lost and adjust the way they navigate. Rather than deferring to information gathered by their internal compass and odometer (a system known as ‘path integration’, which allows them to record how far, and in which direction, they’ve travelled), they seek out familiar landmarks to orient themselves. “This is the first example of an ant that doesn’t utilise path integration information at all when displaced to an unfamiliar environment,” says lead researcher Eliza Middleton from The Vision Centre and the Australian National University. “It was a completely unexpected result.” Read More  -- source link

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