7 replies to this topic

[Works4TheGood]

If an ant finds a single morsel of food that's small enough to carry all by itself, but it's the only morsel of food available, does it still leave a scent trail to where it found the food even though there is no more? 

 

Conversely, if an ant is far from its nest and finds a struggling insect that it cannot eat without help, will it return to its nest empty-handed and leave a scent trail for more ants to return in force?

[Salmon]

I think the second one might be the reason ants usually leave the nest in groups. I could be wrong though.

[NightsWebs]

I think the furthest traveling foraging ants leave a scent trail anyway to find their way home.  At a distance where many foraging ants haven't or won't travel from the nest no scent trail would be evident so ants I assume would in effect be "lost" without laying down a trail.  The distance would be different for each species but I imagine anything over 10 feet for a medium nest might be outside the "well travelled" area for the nest.  Again, all hypothetical.

[kellakk]

I agree with nightsweb, as far as I know workers lay down a trail constantly. When they double back on their trail, they re-scent it with pheromones if they have found food, so it reinforces that trail. Then other workers will follow that reinforced trail and, again, rescent it if there is food.  So if there is a large amount of food the trail will be continually reinforced by workers going to and from the food source, but if there is little to no food the trail will fade away. 

 

Also interesting to know: ants can navigate by landmark and by counting steps!  They don't just rely on pheromones.

[dspdrew]

I agree with nightsweb, as far as I know workers lay down a trail constantly. When they double back on their trail, they re-scent it with pheromones if they have found food, so it reinforces that trail. Then other workers will follow that reinforced trail and, again, rescent it if there is food. So if there is a large amount of food the trail will be continually reinforced by workers going to and from the food source, but if there is little to no food the trail will fade away.

Also interesting to know: ants can navigate by landmark and by counting steps! They don't just rely on pheromones.

That's how I always thought the ant "voting" process worked.

[NightsWebs]

I have not been on in awhile but from what I have read and seen in assorted videos the pheromone voting process works exactly that way.

[Works4TheGood]

So, based on the suggested algorithm, if an ant finds just a single morsel of food, she'll leave a trail even if there is no more food left.

To the second question, if an ant finds food but can't carry it back alone, she will not leave a trail back to the source.

[drtrmiller]

To the second question, if an ant finds food but can't carry it back alone, she will not leave a trail back to the source.

Incorrect. Ants will still lay pheromone trails in this case, in order to recruit nestmates.