the_unlettered_tellurian

Just read about a certain species of ant that seems to be a bit more complicated than the average ant. Cataglyphis fortis, a species of ant found in the salt pans of the Sahara desert, sweeps the barren desert scavenging for food. The interesting bit about this peculiar species is that while its outbound journey is haphazard, its inbound journey is the shortest path back to its nest.

In short, while it goes along a zigzag “where the heck is that piece of food” trail when it gets out, it follows a no-nonsense “let’s just get back quickly to the hole” path once it gets hold of its food. It does not use the average ants’ pheromone trail following technique to retrace its way back to its nest; in that case it should be using the same path to get back home.

The rudimentary diagram given below explains it better. Point A is the opening of the ant’s underground nest, and point B represents the food it found on its outbound journey AB. The path BA represents the inbound journey of the ant carrying the food found at B.

The Cataglyphis fortis is known to go as far away as 200m from the mouth of its nest in search for food. And every time it finds some, it gets back home using the shortest path.