Desert Ants, despite being small creatures, have amazed scientists by the technique of finding their way back home. The insect has navigational abilities which it uses to find its way back, the small brains of ants, smaller than a pinhead captures the snaps the images and use them when they have trouble going to their nests.

According to a recent study, published in the journal Current Biology, showed that ants’ navigational skills are very sophisticated as when walking backwards, they occasionally look behind them to check their surroundings and use this information to set a course relative to the sun’s position.

The team of researchers from University of Edinburgh, Scotland said:

“In this way, the insects can maintain their course towards the nest regardless of which way they are facing.”

Meanwhile,

Professor Barbara Webb of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics said:

“Ants have a relatively tiny brain, less than the size of a pinhead. Understanding their behavior gives us new insights into brain function and has inspired us to build robot systems that mimic their functions.”

Although ants usually walk forward when they carry small pieces of food, but walk backward to drag larger items to their nest.

Coming to the details, researchers observed that ants set off in the wrong direction when a mirror was used to alter their perception of the sun’s location, to ensure they stay on course, backward-walking ants also routinely drop what they are carrying and turn around.

They do this to compare what they see with their visual memories of the route, and correct their direction of travel if they have wandered off course.

Observations were noted and it suggests that ants can understand spatial relations in the external world, not just relative to themselves.