Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #03372
To: Ian Bernstein ian@beam-online.com
From: Steven Bolt sbolt@xs4all.nl
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 09:51:47 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Ants, Web site & (Ian?)
On Wed, 19 May 1999, Ian Bernstein wrote:
> Hey, I was just thinking about how I would go about recreating an ant. I
> don't know allot about them but I was wondering about one thing in
> particular. Ants have eyes right. And feelers. If they have eyes why do
> the need feelers? (because they don't have very good vision right?) But
> if they don't have very good vision why don't they just have feelers and
> no eyes? If they do have good eyesight then why do the have feelers? How
> do they communicate with each other?
Even good eyes need tactile sensors as backup. Take your skin;
every little bit of it is sensitive to touch and temperature.
For ants, pheromones are very important; as a way to communicate and
for using the environment as a kind of collective memory (pheromone
trails). If I remember correctly, the antennae are most important
for smelling and tasting.
Best,
Steve
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# sbolt@xs4all.nl # Steven Bolt # popular science monthly KIJK #
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