Navigation Links
How low can you go? Ants learn to limbo

Have you ever tried to do the limbo? For ants it's a way of life! Scientists at the University of Zurich have discovered that ants are able to learn how to visually judge the height of horizontal barriers so that they can successfully crawl under it without slowing down. Tobias Seidl will be presenting his latest research findings at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Experimental Biology on Tuesday 4th April.

Desert ants generally scurry around at high speeds whilst foraging to limit their exposure to the life threatening conditions of their habitat. Climbing over or crawling beneath obstacles means that ants do not have to make large detours to go around them.

"We found that the ants visually assessed the height of the barrier and learned how to lower their body enough to crawl under without stopping", explains Tobias Seidl, "When the barrier was made invisible to them, they had to use their antennae to examine it".

The researchers motivated the ants to run back and forth by placing biscuit crumbs flavoured with melon and tuna at one end of a channel. They observed the ants' reaction towards a horizontal barrier placed between the food and the ants' nest using high speed video recordings from the side. They then tracked the ants' movements and did a kinematic analysis of the results.


'"/>

Source:Society for Experimental Biology


Page: 1

Related biology news :

1. Structure-building cell signals also may influence learning and memory
2. Building a protein name dictionary from full text: a machine learning term extraction approach
3. Mice brains shrink during winter, impairing some learning and memory
4. More animals join the learning circle
5. Insight into the processes of positive and negative learners
6. Researcher says flu responders can learn from 1918 epidemic
7. Researchers learn how blood vessel cells cope with their pressure-packed job
8. Neurons generated in the adult brain learn to respond to novel stimuli
9. Scientists learn to predict protein-stabilizing ability of small molecules
10. Picking apart how neurons learn
11. How the brain learns to become addicted
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: How low can you Ants learn limbo

(Date:5/16/2013)... neuroscientists from Canada and around the world are ... Canadian Neuroscience Meeting will showcase the latest in ... and reveal clues to understanding the disorders that ... research, and this meeting will showcase the best ... world," says Sam David, President of the Canadian ...
(Date:5/16/2013)... outside of the gym. But doctors use the human pulse ... Bao, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford, has developed ... wider than a postage stamp. The flexible skin-like monitor, worn ... to help doctors detect stiff arteries and cardiovascular problems. , ... heart health and provide doctors a safer method of measuring ...
(Date:5/16/2013)... HAMBURG, Germany , May 16, 2013 ... Customer Value Enhancement Award on Tuesday to ... for its exceptional biometric border control system. ... Sullivan with the Best Practices Award in the category ...  for its cutting edge Biometric   Border Control ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):7th Annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, Toronto, May 20-24, 2013 2Stanford engineers monitor heart health using paper-thin flexible 'skin' 2Stanford engineers monitor heart health using paper-thin flexible 'skin' 3Global Biometrics and Border Control Award for DERMALOG 2Global Biometrics and Border Control Award for DERMALOG 3Global Biometrics and Border Control Award for DERMALOG 4
... researchers will use grants of state money to develop ... can detect food contamination, design taller wind turbine towers ... the state,s economy. The state Board of Regents ... grants totaling $942,389 from Iowa State,s $1.459 million share ...
... productivity that once was on the rise with warming temperatures ... because of regional drought according to a new study of ... of the rate of the photosynthesis process that green plants ... sugar, oxygen and eventually plant tissue. Compared with a 6 ...
... This release is available in German . ... are packaged in a highly characteristic fashion. Most of the ... are connected to each other by flexible DNA segments, like ... in deciding which genes are actively expressed, and thus which ...
Cached Biology News:Iowa State awards grants to develop health, energy and research technologies 2Iowa State awards grants to develop health, energy and research technologies 3Iowa State awards grants to develop health, energy and research technologies 4Drought drives decade-long decline in plant growth 2Road signs and traffic signals on DNA 2Road signs and traffic signals on DNA 3
(Date:5/17/2013)... Dr. Sparano is Professor of Medicine and Professor ... Einstein College of Medicine and Associate Chairman of the ... He is also Associate Director for Clinical Research at ... Cancer Working Group, a multidisciplinary group of physicians and ... serves as Vice Chair of the National Cancer Institute ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... occurs when the transplant recipient,s immune system identifies the ... was previously thought that T cells, the immune cells ... known as chemokines in order to migrate to the ... of Clinical Investigation , Fadi Lakkis and colleagues at ... chemokine stimulation of T cells is not required for ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information ... recent study in Reproductive BioMedicine Online ... with an abnormal chromosomal composition can be identified by ... thereby classifying the risk of genetic abnormality without a ... undertaken a retrospective study, using their predictive model to ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... 2013 •    First of its kind research ... ,     New facility will help solve crop stresses ... Syngenta unveiled its new crop research facility during ... Innovation Center. The first of its kind, $72 million ... agricultural climate and precisely measure plant inputs – the ...
Breaking Biology Technology:Joseph A. Sparano, MD, Named Vice Chair of ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group 2Joseph A. Sparano, MD, Named Vice Chair of ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group 3Breakthrough for IVF? 2Breakthrough for IVF? 3Syngenta Opens Unique $72 Million Advanced Crop Lab 2Syngenta Opens Unique $72 Million Advanced Crop Lab 3
... part of its ongoing mission to provide comprehensive ... clinical trials, Clinical Financial Services (CFS) is pleased ... Site Activation Services. This revolutionary new service, which ... as global investigator budget and contract management, will ...
... -- China Botanic Pharmaceutical Inc. (NYSE AMEX: ... a developer, manufacturer and distributor of botanical products, ... today announced that the Company successfully showcased its ... fair") recently held in Chengdu, China. ...
... DIEGO, May 17, 2011 Verenium Corporation (Nasdaq: ... on the development and commercialization of high-performance enzymes, today ... MDB Capital Group at the second annual Bright Lights ... Bright Lights Conference is the only conference with an ...
Cached Biology Technology:Clinical Financial Services (CFS) Launches New Service to Streamline Clinical Trial Activation 2China Botanic Exhibits All-Natural Products at the 65th PHARMACHINA Fair 2China Botanic Exhibits All-Natural Products at the 65th PHARMACHINA Fair 3Verenium Receives CLARUS Award at MDB Capital's Bright Lights Conference 2011 2Verenium Receives CLARUS Award at MDB Capital's Bright Lights Conference 2011 3Verenium Receives CLARUS Award at MDB Capital's Bright Lights Conference 2011 4
... Application: Useful for the determination of digitonin ... sucrose, 0.4% EDTA Na 4 and 0.06% ... Nakao, et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., ... liberate 1.0 mole of inorganic phosphorus from ATP ...
... 3C protease from human rhinovirus (HRV 3C) ... brand line of restriction grade proteases. The ... 6XHis-fusion protein, which recognizes the same cleavage ... small, 22 KDa size of the protease, ...
... series is designed to enhance your ... applications at a reasonable cost. ... connect rotors and various biocontainment options. ... allows you to control and view ...
p230 trans Golgi Purified Anti-Human clone 15, Isotype Mouse IgG 1 , 50 µg Consult technical datasheet for details....
Biology Products: