Learning walks and landmark guidance in wood ants (Formica rufa)

We have examined a behaviour pattern in wood ants which in some respects re sembles and in other respects differs from the learning flights of bees and wasps. Wood ants returning to their nest from a newly discovered food sour ce turn back and look at landmarks near to the feeder, but the feeder itsel f does not attract sustained fixations, The frequency of landmark inspectio ns is highest when the ant is close to the feeder and falls as the ant move s away. In common with learning flights, inspections of landmarks on depart ure become less frequent as ants become familiar with their surroundings an d reappear after a long interval without foraging. A principal difference b etween the learning flights of wasps and bees and this putative learning be haviour in ants is the emphasis that ants place on landmark fixation, Ants and honeybees move differently when searching for a goal within an array of transformed landmarks. We have explored, using computer simulation, whethe r this difference can be explained by the prominence ants give to the match ing of landmarks viewed in the frontal visual field.