ELI5, If you take a random ant from a colony and put it 20 meters away, will it find way “home”? Also, if you put an ant so far away from the colony, that it won’t be able to go back, will it survive on its own?
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It depends on how far the colony travels for food. Ants leave chemical trails around to help them find their way back to the colony. It comes out of their abdomen, the round part that would be analogous to the human butt.
They navigate by smelling the pheromones left by other ants. If the colony has searched that 20 meter spot recently the ant will be able to find its way home. Otherwise, it has no natural sense that leads it back to the colony.
If you’ve ever have ants in your home or elsewhere you can test this yourself by taking some alcohol and wiping it over the trail they’re walking back and forth over. Coffee grinds work as well. But you’ll instantly see a change in the ants’ behavior: they’ll walk up to the part you wiped and become instantly confused, usually turning back from where they came.
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