CNN.com – Jan 11, 2006

LONDON, England (Reuters) — British researchers said on Wednesday they had uncovered the first proof of teaching in non-human animals — ants showing each other the way to food.

The ants studied over two years by scientists from Bristol University used a technique known as tandem running — one ant led another ant from the nest to a food source.

It was a genuine case of teaching as ant leaders observed by Professor Nigel Franks and Tom Richardson slowed down if the follower got too far behind. If the gap got smaller, they then speeded up.

Tandem leaders also paid a penalty, because they would have reached the food four times faster if they had gone alone. But teaching had its advantages — the follower ant then learnt much more quickly where the food source was.

Information then flows through the ant colony when followers are promoted to leaders and the teaching process starts all over again.

“Teaching isn’t merely mimicry. It involves the teacher modifying its behavior in the presence of a naive observer at some initial cost to itself,” said Franks, who reported the findings in the journal Nature.

“We think real teaching involves a lot of feedback. This is to our knowledge the first example of formal teaching in non-human animals,” he told Reuters.

“What’s nice about this demonstration is that the ant is an animal with a small brain. The human brain is a million times larger and yet the ant is very good at teaching and learning.”