Differential response by tandem leaders and followers to landmark-rich and landmark-poor environments.

ABSTRACT: When animals use the same route repeatedly, they have the opportunity to update information that might help them to navigate more quickly and more accurately. Here we analyse ants involved in tandem running, in which the leader has evaluated a new nest and decided to recruit to it while the follower has chosen to be led and shown the route. We used a motorised gantry equipped with a camera to track the movements of tandem members on their tandem and return trips in a landmark-rich and a landmark-poor environment. Although the amount of visual navigational information did not affect the movements of leaders or followers on their tandem trip, the paths of followers were significantly more tortuous and their speeds significantly slower than those of leaders on their return trips in the landma

SUBMITTER: Basari N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12089173 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature