There are species that spin in circles for some reason, creating a spiral from which they cannot escape until they finally end up dying of exhaustion. This is a strange behavior that many have associated with the mystical or paranormal, but it has an explanation.
Insects do not have something we can call a brain, they have something called ganglia with simpler architecture and connections. They have few cells and unions between them, so no one would imagine that ants have extraordinary coordination skills, but in fact, they are amazing insects with a social organization that surpasses any limit.
The great abilities of ants
Ants are capable of organizing themselves in large numbers, achieving communities of millions of members that surpass several human cities and still manage to function perfectly. They are also part of social animals, since they are insects of the order Hymenoptera, as well as wasps. These species create incredibly organized societies where their members work with swarm intelligence.
Swarm intelligence is made up of simple systems that have some basic properties that, from a mass of individuals, new properties associated with intelligence begin to emerge, it has been proven that.
A behavior that perfectly explains this hive mind quality is the defense mechanism of red ants against floods. When the water floods the anthills, it is so well structured that it floats for days, plus it has access to oxygen for all members.
However, hive behavior sometimes borders on chaos. There are times when something goes wrong and the most pathological order imaginable occurs. Large spirals of hundreds of meters of ants are literally formed, running one after the other until they finally die one by one, these are known as the spirals of the ants.
Pheromones in ants
Ants are mostly blind, so they give great importance to scents, using them as markers to return to their shelter. The bad thing about this is that not all odoriferous substances are the same, which causes anomalies in their behavior.
We commonly associate pheromones with sexuality, but this is just one of their many uses. They can help ants in the same colony recognize each other. This makes it appear that the ants are better organized, but what really happens is that they follow scent trails in a fairly orderly manner.
The death spiral
The first explanation for this event was given in 1921 by , when he observed a circumference of 370 meters of ants that circled every two and a half minutes. Because they are animals sensitive to sensory stimuli, they move in unison. But when this stimulus conditions a response, another stimulus is generated in the same direction, then a positive feedback loop is entered, because the more turns the ants make, the more they will be reinforcing the pheromone trail and therefore, they will make more turns.
However, This phenomenon is known as the death spiral, since being an endless loop from which the ants cannot escape, they all end up dying of exhaustion.
According to the explanations of entomologists, The death spiral is formed when the group of ants encounter certain barriers on the ground, either due to obstacles or because they are isolated between puddles of water.. Once they enter this loop it is almost impossible for them to come out of it spontaneously, unless interrupted by something, be it an animal or a branch that gets in their way. But if not, they will end up hanging around until they die. And this is how the same principles that make them a functional super society are the same ones that can lead to their death.