PHARAOH ants use an appreciation of geometry to find their way home.
Worker pharaoh ants travel to and from their colony along a series of branching paths scented with pheromones. But until now it was unclear how the ants knew which branch would lead them home.
Duncan Jackson and his colleagues at the University of Sheffield, UK, noticed that various species of leafcutter and pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) lay trails radiating out from the nest that fork at an angle of 50 to 60 degrees. When a returning ant reaches a fork in the trail, it usually takes the path…
