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Ants are well known for their industriousness and ingenuity, but even these marvels of nature can lose their way home -- especially when carrying large objects back to their nests.
A new study, published in Nature Communications, has revealed the secret weapon that longhorn crazy ants -- so-called because they move around erratically, rather than in neat patterns -- employ to carry food without veering off track. The trick? A wandering ant.
This trusty navigator from the same band of workers steers the other ants in the right direction, as this video of them hauling a Cheerio homewards shows. Basically, the wandering ant pulls the food -- which, in their natural habitat, could be a wasp or other large insect -- and the others follow suit.
However, the silver-haired ants' teamwork isn't entirely foolproof. Scientists aren't sure whether it's the size or smell of the food that scrambles the new recruit's sense of direction, but this ant forgets the way home too.
The solution? Another roaming ant comes to the rescue and leads the swarm back home to demolish their well-earned feast. So, as it turns out, the animal kingdom's most tireless workers might actually be bumbling along with a bit more human-like trial and error than we first thought...
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
