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Olfactory Navigation
04/04/09 01:32 PM
Can you smell your way home?
If you've ever been lost in the wilds and lived to tell the tale, then you realize how impossible it can be to use sight (visual cues) to find your way out. In fact, most of us who do become disoriented in the wilderness end up going in circles, in part because visual cues are not available or helpful in many natural environments — deserts, dense forests, swamps, etc.
However, there is a species of ant in the salt pan deserts of Tunisia (North Africa) that ranges across vast distances of uniform topography (no major landmarks) without getting lost or disoriented. While these tiny creatures use visual cues when available, they also rely heavily on scent. In other words, they smell their way back to their nests, sometimes after solo forays of 100 meters or more (about 330 feet). Now that may not sound like a long distance to a human, but to an ant it's quite a trek.
This ability demonstrates that these ants can store olfactory information, as well as available visual cues, in their nervous systems, retrieving them from memory to assist with back-and-forth navigation. This multi-sensory navigational skill is not found among we humans. If it were, we could smell our way back home over a distance of several miles.
So the next time you watch an ant scurrying about doing its business, show a little respect. Even if you're lost, it isn't.
However, there is a species of ant in the salt pan deserts of Tunisia (North Africa) that ranges across vast distances of uniform topography (no major landmarks) without getting lost or disoriented. While these tiny creatures use visual cues when available, they also rely heavily on scent. In other words, they smell their way back to their nests, sometimes after solo forays of 100 meters or more (about 330 feet). Now that may not sound like a long distance to a human, but to an ant it's quite a trek.
This ability demonstrates that these ants can store olfactory information, as well as available visual cues, in their nervous systems, retrieving them from memory to assist with back-and-forth navigation. This multi-sensory navigational skill is not found among we humans. If it were, we could smell our way back home over a distance of several miles.
So the next time you watch an ant scurrying about doing its business, show a little respect. Even if you're lost, it isn't.