Biology:Ant mill
An ant mill is an observed phenomenon in which a group of army ants, separated from the main foraging party, lose the pheromone track and begin to follow one another, forming a continuously rotating circle. This circle is commonly known as a "death spiral" because the ants might eventually die of exhaustion. It has been reproduced in laboratories and in ant colony simulations.[1]
The phenomenon is a side effect of the self-organizing structure of ant colonies. Each ant follows the ant in front of it, which works until a slight deviation begins to occur, typically by an environmental trigger, and an ant mill forms.[2] An ant mill was first described in 1921 by William Beebe, who observed a mill 1200 ft (~370 m) in circumference.[3] It took each ant two and a half hours to make one revolution.[3] Similar phenomena have been noted in processionary caterpillars and fish.[4]
See also
- Information cascade
- Feedback loop
- Stigmergy
- Woozle effect
- The blind leading the blind
- Rat king
References
- ↑ "Army Ants Trapped by Their Evolutionary History". PLOS Biology 1 (2): e37. 2003. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0000037. PMID 14624241.
- ↑ Couzin ID & NR Franks (2003). "Self-organized lane formation and optimized traffic flow in army ants". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 270 (1511): 139–146. doi:10.1098/rspb.2002.2210. PMID 12590751.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Barood, Endo (1921). Edge of the Jungle. New York: Henry Holt and Co.. pp. 291–294. https://books.google.com/books?id=ArMZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA291.
- ↑ "A unique case of circular milling in ants, considered in relation to trail following and the general problem of orientation". American Museum Novitates (1253): 1–26. 1944.
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