Next
Dinesh

Dinesh club

Posted: 03 Jan 2023

Taken: 02 Jan 2023

1 favorite     1 comment    21 visits

See also...

Keywords

From •
MAKING SPACE •
Author •
Jennifer Groh •

Authorizations, license

Visible by: Everyone
All rights reserved
21 visits

PLATE 9

PLATE 9

Erhard Bernstein has particularly liked this photo

Comments
 Dinesh
Dinesh club
Clever proof of the idea that keeping track of one’s own movements can be used to aid navigation comes from ants in the Tunisian desert (Plate 9). These ants travel far afield in search of food to bring back to the nest. Ants are good at finding their ways back home again, and they seem to count their steps to help do so. This was shown in the ingenious experiment involving putting ants on stilts. Scientists captured ants just after they had found a food source and were about to set off for home. Before they were released again, some ants had their legs glued to pig’s bristles to extend them. Others had their legs clipped to be shorter than before. The ants were then released and followed to see whether they would still be able to find their way hom. The ants on stilts overshot, while the stumpy-legged ones undershot -- just what one would expect if the ants were somehow “counting” their steps and were unaware of their changed stride length. ~ Page 185

Organisms that forge at some distance from home territory (or animals storing food at various locations), must find their way repeatedly to the same spot, and many show this same dead-reckoning ability. Think of the expressions “as the crow flies” or “make a bee line.” Even our friends the desert ants seem to possess this skill: their outbound foraging forays siz and zag all about. But when their return to their nests, they take a short, straight path

MAKING SPACE
17 months ago. Edited 17 months ago.

Sign-in to write a comment.