News Animals

These ants build tall nest hills to help show the way home

Desert ants living in Tunisia’s flat, featureless salt pans create landmarks to aid navigation

A close up photo of a forager Cataglyphis fortis ant standing on a brown sandy surface.

A forager Cataglyphis fortis ant stands on the sandy surface of a hot salt pan while looking for food.

M. Knaden

By Soumya Sagar

Some ants have figured out how to keep from getting lost: Build taller anthills.

Desert ants that live in the hot, flat salt pans of Tunisia spend their days looking for food. Successful grocery runs can take the insects as far as 1.1