Swarm IntelligenceAnts are pretty stupid but they manage to do complex things... How ? One thing they do is leave traces of feromones (smelly substance) in their environment, for example when walking from a source of food back to the nest. Other ants that come across react to this when they smell the substance. One reaction is to follow the trace... So they find the food too (or their nest if they should go the wrong way). They take the food, and return to their nest leaving traces of smell in their turn. Now one smart thing of this system is that it takes less time to walk to a food source that is closer to the nest. A shorter walk means that ants will arrive there faster, but also that they will be back faster. If they are back faster, then the smell-traces to the food source that is closer to the nest will be reinforced quicker... So the chance that ants just leaving the nest will go to the food source nearer to the nest is bigger (and so on, because they will be back earlier, so even more smell... so even more ants...)... And that's how ants gather food in a smart way. Termites and Bees use simmillar techniques when they are for example building their nests... |
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