After two years of studying the lives of ants, Professors Nigel Franks and Tom Richardson from the University of Bristol (UK) have discovered evidence of how these tiny creatures guide and teach each other.
According to their findings, to teach each other how to find food, ants employ a technique of following in a line—one ant leads others from their nest to food sources. The leading ants will slow down if the following ants are left too far behind, and they will gradually speed up if the distance between them is too short.
The information about the path spreads throughout the ant colony as those following become the “leaders” at the front, and the process of guiding and teaching begins anew for the entire colony. Professor Nigel Franks stated, “The guidance and teaching among ants is not merely imitation. Although ants have brains that are millions of times smaller than humans, they excel at the ‘work’ of teaching and learning.”
NGUYEN SINH
