In a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona, it was discovered that rock ants follow a systematic meandering pattern when exploring new environments, contrary to the belief that they move in a purely random way. The researchers found that this method of exploration, which combines both systematic movement and randomness, may optimize the ants’ search for food and shelter. This discovery has potential implications for understanding other species’ search behavior and could even inform the design of autonomous robots in search and rescue missions. The researchers collected rock ants from Mount Lemmon in Arizona and observed their meandering behavior in a lab setting. Through the use of tracking software, they determined that the direction an ant turned was correlated to previous turns, indicating a methodical search pattern. The combination of systematic movement and randomness allows the ants to explore a larger area efficiently. This finding challenges the assumption that free-searching animals are incapable of methodical exploration and opens up new possibilities for understanding animal movement and applying it to other fields such as robotics.
https://news.arizona.edu/story/ants-go-marching-%E2%80%A6-methodically