Abstract

Alot of species of ants have a trail-laying/trailfollowing behavior when foraging. While moving, individual ants deposit on the ground a volatile chemical substance called pheromone, forming in this way pheromone trails. Ants can smell pheromone and, when choosing their way, they tend to choose, in probability, the paths marked by stronger pheromone concentrations. In this way they create a sort of attractive potential field, the pheromone trails allows the ants to find their way back to food sources (or to the nest). Also, they can be used by other ants to find the location of the food sources discovered by their nest mates.