Desert Navigator: The Journey of the Ant

How Does A Small-brained Ant Living In The Sahara Desert Know Where It Is When Searching For Prey In The Vast Expanse Of Sand And Gravel? In Desert Navigator Rudiger Wehner Describes And Illustrates, In A Lively And Lucid Narrative, How The Ants Accomplish Their Navigational Tasks By Using Visual Cues In The Sky That Humans Are Unable To See, The Earth's Magnetic Field, The Direction Of The Wind, A Step Counter, An Optic-flow Meter And Path Integrator As Well Panoramic 'snapshots' Of Their Landmark Surroundings, And How They Combine All This Information To Optimally Steer Their Courses. Moreover, A Glimpse Into The Navigator's Brain Reveals The Kind Of Neural Circuitry Mediating The Observed Behavior. Truly, The Desert Ants Have Now Become Model Organisms In The Study Of Animal Navigation. In Telling This Discovery Story, Which He Enriches By Frequent Excursions To Other Animals And Even Humans, The Author Lets Us Participate In The Joys And Challenges Experienced On A Fascinating Journey To The Desert Navigator-- Setting The Scene -- The Thermophiles -- Finding Directions -- Estimating Distances -- Integrating Paths -- Using Landmarks -- Organizing The Journey. Rüdiger Wehner. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Winner of the Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life SciencesA world-renowned researcher of animal behavior reveals the extraordinary orienteering skills of desert ants, offering a thrilling account of the sophisticated ways insects function in their natural environments.Cataglyphis desert ants are agile ultrarunners who can tolerate near-lethal temperatures when they forage in the hot midday sun. But it is their remarkable navigational abilities that make these ants so fascinating to study. Whether in the Sahara or its ecological equivalents in the Namib Desert and Australian Outback, the Cataglyphis navigators can set out foraging across vast expanses of desert terrain in search of prey, and then find the shortest way home. For almost half a century, Rüdiger Wehner and his collaborators have devised elegant experiments to unmask how they do it.Through a lively and lucid narrative, Desert Navigator offers a firsthand look at the extraordinary navigational skills of these charismatic desert dwellers and the experiments that revealed how they strategize and solve complex problems. Wehner and his team discovered that these insect navigators use visual cues in the sky that humans are unable to see, the Earth's magnetic field, wind direction, a step counter, and panoramic “snapshots” of landmarks, among other resources. The ants combine all of this information to steer an optimal course. At any given time during their long journey, they know exactly where to go. It is no wonder these nimble and versatile creatures have become models in the study of animal navigation.Desert Navigator brings to light the marvelous capacity and complexity found in these remarkable insects and shows us how mini brains can solve mega tasks. A world-renowned researcher of animal behavior reveals the extraordinary orienteering skills of desert ants, offering a thrilling account of the sophisticated ways insects function in their natural environments. Cataglyphis desert ants are agile ultrarunners who can tolerate near-lethal temperatures when they forage in the hot midday sun. But it is their remarkable navigational abilities that make these ants so fascinating to study. Whether in the Sahara or its ecological equivalents in the Namib Desert and Australian Outback, the Cataglyphis navigators can set out foraging across vast expanses of desert terrain in search of prey, and then find the shortest way home. For almost half a century, Rdiger Wehner and his collaborators have devised elegant experiments to unmask how they do it. Through a lively and lucid narrative, Desert Navigator offers a firsthand look at the extraordinary navigational skills of these charismatic desert dwellers and the experiments that revealed how they strategize and solve complex problems. Wehner and his team discovered that these insect navigators use visual cues in the sky that humans are unable to see, the Earth's magnetic field, wind direction, a step counter, and panoramic "snapshots" of landmarks, among other resources. The ants combine all of this information to steer an optimal course. At any given time during their long journey, they know exactly where to go. It is no wonder these nimble and versatile creatures have become models in the study of animal navigation. Desert Navigator brings to light the marvelous capacity and complexity found in these remarkable insects and shows us how mini brains can solve mega tasks. How Does A Small-brained Ant Living In The Sahara Desert Know Where It Is When Searching For Prey In The Vast Expanse Of Sand And Gravel? In Desert Navigator Rudiger Wehner Describes And Illustrates, In A Lively And Lucid Narrative, How The Ants Accomplish Their Navigational Tasks By Using Visual Cues In The Sky That Humans Are Unable To See, The Earth's Magnetic Field, The Direction Of The Wind, A Step Counter, An Optic-flow Meter And Path Integrator As Well Panoramic 'snapshots' Of Their Landmark Surroundings, And How They Combine All This Information To Optimally Steer Their Courses. Moreover, A Glimpse Into The Navigator's Brain Reveals The Kind Of Neural Circuitry Mediating The Observed Behavior. Truly, The Desert Ants Have Now Become Model Organisms In The Study Of Animal Navigation. In Telling This Discovery Story, Which He Enriches By Frequent Excursions To Other Animals And Even Humans, The Author Lets Us Participate In The Joys And Challenges Experienced On A Fascinating Journey To The Desert Navigator-- Setting The Scene -- The Thermophiles -- Finding Directions -- Estimating Distances -- Integrating Paths -- Using Landmarks -- Organizing The Journey. Rüdiger Wehner. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "How does a small-brained ant living in the Sahara desert know where it is when searching for prey in the vast expanse of sand and gravel? In Desert Navigator Rudiger Wehner describes and illustrates, in a lively and lucid narrative, how the ants accomplish their navigational tasks by using visual cues in the sky that humans are unable to see, the Earth's magnetic field, the direction of the wind, a step counter, an optic-flow meter and path integrator as well panoramic 'snapshots' of their landmark surroundings, and how they combine all this information to optimally steer their courses. Moreover, a glimpse into the navigator's brain reveals the kind of neural circuitry mediating the observed behavior. Truly, the desert ants have now become model organisms in the study of animal navigation. In telling this discovery story, which he enriches by frequent excursions to other animals and even humans, the author lets us participate in the joys and challenges experienced on a fascinating journey to the desert navigator"-- Provided by publisher __Cataglyphis__ ants can set out across vast expanses of desert terrain in search of prey, and then find the shortest way home. Rüdiger Wehner has devised elegant experiments to unmask how they do it. Through a lively and lucid narrative, he offers a firsthand look at the extraordinary navigational skills of these charismatic creatures.