Fire ants' super prize math like people

Effective problems are considered by fire ants as they always choose the fastest route, instead of the shortest, to move on every surface.

A recent study said that when crossing surfaces with different terrains, fire ants always know how to choose a path that minimizes travel time, instead of choosing the shortest path.

This phenomenon is similar to the phenomenon that light between two points is always transmitted by the most time-saving path. This is called the original Fermat term for minimum time.

In the problem of efficiency, ants have chosen for themselves
The best way to save time, instead of the shortest

In their study, researchers at the University of Regensburg, Germany, collected several flocks of fire ants in Israel. Each herd consists of several thousand worker ants and several queen ants. They put these ants in a corner of the box and placed a cockroach in the corner of the other column. To reach the cockroach, ants must cross barriers such as smooth felt, rough felt and a smooth surface.

They found that, to reach the prey, ants did not choose straight paths. They often follow angled lines, on smooth materials to reach their destination in the nearest time.

Ants rely on pheromone streaks (substances used as chemical signals between individuals of the same species, which are secreted outside the insect's body and can cause specific reactions to other individuals of the same species). species) to find the way. At first, these streaks were quite random, but later they would be gathered on optimal roads.

This process shows the self-organization and evolution of ants, in which all possible paths are taken into consideration, to select the fastest path.