Ants can be said to be the most abundant organisms on the earth, and scientists estimate that the number of ants on the earth is more than 100 million billion, which is a million times the number of humans, and plays an important role in the ecological chain of the earth.
The ants we see seem to be repeating the same behavior constantly, approaching danger and not escaping, busy like machines. When people approach them, they will not run away like other animals, so many people think that ants have no individual consciousness, and even speculate that ants are two-dimensional creatures and cannot perceive us in the three-dimensional world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > ants are two-dimensional creatures</h1>?
Whether the ant is a two-dimensional creature, first of all, from the perspective of the morphological structure of the ant, the ant is also a three-dimensional three-dimensional form, in addition, we look at it from the perception of the ant, in our impression, the direction of the ant seems to be only front and back, left and right, it seems that it cannot be perceived up and down, however, someone has done experiments, the melted metal is poured into the ant nest, and after cooling, a model of the ant nest is formed, from the model can be seen, the underground kingdom of the ant is divided into many layers, very three-dimensional, from which we can also draw, Ants are able to perceive the three-dimensional world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > so are ants self-aware? </h1>
German scientists did an experiment in which ants searched for food in a T-shaped maze, and normally, ants would leave an odor trail when looking for food so that other ants could follow the trajectory they left behind to find food, but the researchers picked up the food and created uncertainty for the ants. At this point, ants that reach the wrong direction have a higher probability of no longer leaving odor traces, which the researchers say may show that ants have a basic performance of questioning their existing cognitive abilities. To be able to doubt one's own life is necessarily an individual with consciousness.
Ants question themselves when they experience uncertainty, and questioning is a basic component of cognition. In addition, this also shows that ants will not blindly follow the odor trajectories left by other ants, but will correct these trajectories according to their own perception and pay attention to the surrounding food, which is also the key to the survival of ant groups.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" >which ants are conscious, why don't they avoid danger? </h1>
It should be found that when we approach a group of ants, as long as we don't touch them, even if we observe them for a long time, they seem to continue their work as if they did not find us. Even if it almost stepped on it, it continued its previous route as if nothing had happened. It seems to be unconscious, so why doesn't it perceive risk?
Let's look at how the ant perceives the world, from the shape of the ant, it seems to be able to see two black eyes, but in fact, the commonly used sensing organ of the ant is its antennae, we will find that the ant encounters food, it is two tentacles that constantly touch, encounter other ants, but also use the antennae to communicate, and its eyes, the main function may be more for light sensitivity, in order to distinguish whether it is in the nest or outside, day or night.
That is, it is not not not afraid, but
There is no sense of danger coming. If you touch an ant, they will also be frightened and run away quickly. More often, they only need to use their antennae to perceive themselves or the pheromones left by other ants to find food or go home. This is the ant life of the ants.
Because ants' pheromones remain on the surface, it is more appropriate to describe ants as three-dimensional creatures with only two-dimensional perception in the human eye.