How do ants know I’ve dropped a piece of candy in my room and gather their squad to eat it when there were no signs of ants previously? Do they smell that there’s sugar? Even so, how? The world seems so huge to them to know where to scout
In: 232
Ants are able to locate food sources through their sense of smell and by following pheromone trails. Pheromones are chemicals that can be detected by other ants and are used for communication. When an ant finds food, it will leave a pheromone trail as it returns to the nest. This pheromone trail acts as a sort of roadmap, leading other ants to the food source. In the case of the candy you dropped in your room, the ants may have been alerted to its presence through the pheromone trail left by the first ant that found it. They are then able to follow the trail back to the food source, where they can gather their squad and eat the candy.
To understand how pheromones work, you can think of them as a sort of “chemical language” that ants use to communicate with each other. Just as we use words and language to convey information to one another, ants use pheromones to convey information to other ants. When an ant leaves a pheromone trail, it is essentially saying “follow me to the food!” to other ants. Other ants are able to detect the pheromone trail using their antennae, which are sensitive to chemical signals. By following the pheromone trail, the ants are able to find the food source and gather together to eat
Latest Answers