Why do ants (as in the bugs -not your relatives) sometimes congregate in big groups on sidewalks, crawling all around /over each other (even though there seems to be no food in sight) ?

Question

I took a pic of what I’m talking about, but this sub doesn’t allow pics …hope I made the question clear Lol

In: 2

Answer 1

Ants will lay down trails of pheromones while traveling. These are smell chemicals that help communicate to other ants that they are following the right track. Sometimes, if a few ants get turned around, they may overlap a previous section of the pheromone trail with their own trail, forming a loop. They will follow the loop forever, as they keep laying down new pheromones, smelling them later and thinking they’re following the track back to the colony or to food. Other ants can get caught in this too, aggravating the situation with their own pheromone trails. This is basically a death spiral for the ants, as they will march themselves to death.