why do ants walk in a straight line?

Question

and if you will break/sweep their path, ants will stop and they will lost their path.

Answer 1

If you watch a lone ant, not following other ants and not followed by other ants, you'll see that it goes in a very crooked path. This is because it has no idea where it is going. But once it finds something tasty, it follows a trail of chemicals that it has laid down (formic acid) and goes right back to its ant house and lets its brothers (mostly male that is) know about what a tasty treat it has found -- all through chemical communication -- and they'll follow it, or its chemical trail, back to the tasty stuff and then back to the anthole. That's why the trail tends to be fairly straight -- it's chemicals. If you sweep the ants very lightly, so that you don't disturb the chemical trail, they'll wander a bit back and forth, but they'll find the trail again and get right back to it. But if you sweep harder, and mess up the trail, they have to reconstruct it.

Answer 2

They are following a pheromone trail. This is used to communicate with other ants and also to find there way back to the nest. Pheromone trails can last for years depending on how much traffic. The way the ant uses pheromone is by dropping the abdomen and tapping the surface, this releases the pheromone. If they find a high quality food source they drag the abdomen across. The stronger the pheromone the more ants, this will create over millions ants releasing pheromone along the trail.

Answer 3

They really do not do straight lines except on are artificial smooth surfaces. If you watch them in the woods they follow each other but over a lot of obstacles it can become twice as long as a straight line. They are following the scent trail laid down by the ant that found the food and reinforced by the ants that follow. It is fun to break the line by moving a stick or other object they were walking on and watching them search for the lost scent trail.

Answer 4

they walk in a straight line to gather materials and food for their nest. the ant in the front lays a pheromone trail on the ground and the other ants sense("taste") with their antennae and abdomens. if you block their trail they will lose the trail for a moment but they are able to find it again. for example, if you put a stick in the middle of a leaf cutter ant trail the ants will be confused. they will stop, go around the stick, and then eventually some will go over the stick and relay the trail and the otehrs will follow. the experiment is very easy to do and very interesting to watch

Answer 5

They are following the pheromone (scent) trail set down by the ant that found food or harborage. If you break the trail, the ants will temporarily be lost, but then they start making a spiral outward until they find their trail again... then continue toward their destination.

Answer 6

How Do Ants Travel

Answer 7

If they didn't walk straight, the cops would pick them up for public drunkenness.

Answer 8

beacuse they know the women ants find it sexy af

Answer 9

They are well trained, huh?

Answer 10

so they know their way