J.E. Ron et al., “Bi-stability in cooperative transport by ants in the presence of obstacles,” PLOS Comput Biol, 14:e1006068, 2018.
Ants carrying food to their nests often run into obstacles. To find out how they determine the best way to proceed, researchers first used a mathematical model in which ants on the march confronted a barrier with a small opening in it. The model suggested two possible solutions: squeeze the morsel of food through the hole or go around the blockage. The path the “ants” took depended on the number of ants, which in turn hinged on the size of the cargo.
The team tested its model on wild ants in Israel by giving them large, ring-shaped cargos of different sizes smeared with cat food that the ants collectively carried. The researchers placed a clear, plastic wall containing a small hole facing the nest in front of the ants that ...
