Book 4, Question 29
Why Do Ants Walk in a Line?
The line is a smell road. A finder ant lays a scent trail from food to the nest, so the rest of the team can follow without a map. Let's watch an ant road form!
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 4
More fun facts
- Ants leave chemical scent trails called pheromones as they walk.
- These trails lead other workers to food and guide them back home to the nest.
- Ant trail networks can stretch for hundreds of feet, even though many worker ants are less than half an inch long.
- When nothing is in the way, ants prefer to walk in a straight line.
- Ants are not good at making sharp U-turns.
- Scientists built sugar cube sized robot ants to study how real ants pick their paths.
Sources: Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
How do ants know where to go?
They follow scent trails left by other ants, which lead to food and back home.