How desert ants cope with enforced detours on their way home |
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Authors: | I. Schmidt T. S. Collett F. -X. Dillier R. Wehner |
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Affiliation: | (1) Zoologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland;(2) Present address: Sussex Centre for Neuroscience, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, BN1 9QG Brighton, UK |
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Abstract: | Summary We ask whether desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis) perform path integration on their homeward as well as on their outward journey. If path integration does occur on the return journey, then, after an enforced detour, the ant's trajectory should point directly at its nest. To test whether this is so, ants were trained to forage at a spot 25 m from their nest. As an ant began its return journey to the nest, it was caught and transported to a test area where it was released either 2 m or 12 m from a wide barrier which obstructed its homeward path. The direction of the ants' trajectory after detouring around the barrier corresponded closely to that predicted on the assumption that the home vector is accurately updated during the detour. |
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Keywords: | Ants Path integration Detours Homing |
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