Ants leave maps for other ants when they walk

If you’ve ever had an infestation of  ants in your left-over chocolates and candies, you may have seen them moving one by one across the floor or up the wall. But, have you ever wondered why ants stick together when they travel? 

Scenting their way 
Ants are social insects and they live in colonies inside the walls of our houses. They generally travel large distances in search of food. But do they have some kind of GPS or map which guides them for directions? No, but they have self-created mechanisms to find their way around! 

They leave behind a scent called pheromone, when they leave their home to find food. This is like a trail they use to trace their way back to their nests just as in the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, the children left a trail of pebbles to find their way home from the jungle.  

This trail is also followed by other ants and that’s the reason you find them in a line moving next to each other because they are following the scent.   

To test this, you can try using an eraser or a water scrubber to clean the path the ants are taking and you will be surprised that they will stop precisely at the point where you have cleaned. Directionless, they will start moving in all directions. 

Unique way of communication 
Each ant colony has a unique smell, making it possible for ants to tell friend from foe. So, when an ant wants to alert others, say about a cookie it found on your kitchen counter, it would leave a trail of phermones on the way back to its nest to inform others to come and treat themselves to the leftover cookie.  

Also, while we may not be able to hear the sounds ants make, they do signal each other by rubbing their legs against their bodies. 

Ant facts  

• There are over 12,000 ant species worldwide.  
• Ants can be found on every single continent except Antarctica. 
• Ants are the longest-living insects and can live up to 30 years. 
• Relative to its size, the ant is one of the world’s strongest creatures.  
• Ants hold the record for the fastest movement in the animal kingdom. 
• Ants don’t have ears, and some of them don’t have eyes! They feel vibrations from the ground through their feet. 
• Ants are social insects that live in a colony called formicary. 
• The bullet ant is said to have the most painful sting in the world!