The discovery was made by animal scientists at Britain's University of Sheffield.
In a lab, they got a scouting colony of Pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) to explore branches that led to no reward. Paper covers were placed at the branch's forks.
The paper covers were then taken off and transferred to another set of branches. This set had already been explored by another ant colony, which found a tasty meal of sucrose at the end of the trail.
Even though the food reward was still there, ants performed a U-turn or chose another direction whenever they came across the covers.
"It provides advance warning, like human road signs situated before junctions," the authors suggest. -- agencies
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