Ants have tiny magnetic compasses in their antennae which help them navigate.
Miniscule magnets found in ant antennae could help to explain why these insects seem to always know where they are going, according to researchers who suspect the magnets are a key component of a sophisticated, natural navigation system.
A study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Jandira Ferreira de Oliveira of the Technical University of Munich and the Brazilian Center for Physics Research and her colleagues collected worker ants from the species Pachycondyla marginata in Sao Paulo. Prior studies found these ants tend to always migrate at an orientation of 13 degrees relative to Earth's geomagnetic north-south axis, and that the ant's strongest magnetic signal comes from its antennae.
High-powered microscopes and chemical analysis revealed the presence of magnetic particles in the antennae, acquired from the surrounding dirt, next to the Johnston's organ that may also be part of the ant's navigation system.
Magnetic particles have been detected in many fish, birds, butterflies, flies, bees, bats, mole rats, newts, sea turtles and spiny lobsters, suggesting these animals find their way using a compass like the Brazilian ants.
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