Next time you need directions, maybe ask an ant. Because these clever little critters are such masters of navigation that some can find their way home… whether they’re walking forward, backward, or sideways. That’s according to a study in the journal Current Biology.
下次，當你需要辨別方向時，也許可以問問小螞蟻。因為這些聰明的小東西真是擅長導航——無論是向前向後或者走小路，有些螞蟻總能找到回家的路呢。該研究結果發表在《當代生物學》雜誌。
Ants often travel long distances—well, for them—when they’re searching for food to bring back to their nests. And their built-in GPS appears to function just fine even when they wind up having to travel in reverse because they’re dragging a huge morsel. But how do these backward bugs know where they’re going?
螞蟻通常會出行很遠的距離——好吧，對它們來講算是很遠了——當它們外出尋找食物回家的時候。它們身體裡內建的定位系統即使在它們因為拉著一個巨大的食物碎屑而不得不結束旅行掉頭回家的時候也能正常發揮功能。但是這些向後掉頭的小東西是如何知道它們要去的方向呢?
To find out, researchers went to Spain to mess with some desert ants. They found an active nest and surrounded it with barriers that forced the foraging ants to follow a particular path back home. Once the ants were familiar with the maze, the researchers would scoop them up…hand them a cookie crumb…and then put them back in a different location…one that required taking a 90 degree turn to get to the nest.
為了找尋答案，研究人員們去西班牙騷擾了一下某些沙漠地帶的螞蟻。結果他們發現，一個有活力的巢穴以及圍繞著巢穴的一些屏障會迫使這些覓食的螞蟻循著一條特殊的路徑返家。一旦這些螞蟻熟悉了這種迷宮式的路線， 研究人員們就會把它們拿起來，給它們一塊餅乾碎屑，然後把它們再放到另一個不同的位置，這裡需要調轉90度角的方向才能返回巢穴。
What the researchers saw was that the ants that were carting a small, easy-to-carry crumb would dash forward with confidence and were able to hook a right and head on home. Presumably because they could see where they were going and recognized the route.
研究人員們發現，這些螞蟻會抓著小塊的容易攜帶的食物碎屑向前猛衝，並能找到正確的回家方向。或許因為它們能識別它們要去的地方的位置和路線。
But some of their nest-mates were given a cookie crumb so large that they had to travel aft-first, pulling their prize behind them. These ants would set off in the correct general direction. But those that stuck with going in reverse would miss the turnoff to the nest.
可是有些同伴負責運送大一些的.食物碎屑，它們就不得不跟著前面的走，後面拽著食物。這些螞蟻可以行駛在正確的方向上，可是那些跟在它們後面的向原來行駛方向走的螞蟻們就不能掉頭回家。
Some of the rearward ants, however, stopped to get their bearings. They would drop the cookie and turn around to take a look at the landscape. This quick peek allowed the six-legged savants to reset their inner maps. So that after turning back around to grab their cookies they headed in the right direction, even going back-end first.
某些在後面的螞蟻，會停下去搜索方向。它們會扔下食物，向四周察看一下。這種快速察看可以使這些六條腿的小工們重新設定它們已知的地圖。然後它們轉回去拿起食物再朝著正確的回家路線行進，甚至能追上前面的同伴。
The ants-in-reverse appear to use celestial cues…like the position of the sun…to keep them on the straight and narrow. When the researchers used a mirror to make it look like the sun was on the other side of the sky, the beleaguered backward ants would turn tail for the opposite direction.
這些反轉的螞蟻貌似參考了天空上的物質定位，比如太陽的位置，使它們保持走一條細直線。但研究人員用一面鏡子模擬太陽放在天上的另外一個位置時，這些向後走的受到方向困擾的螞蟻，會調頭朝向相反的方向走了。
So ants integrate a lot of information…about local landmarks, the position of the sun, and where their bodies are situated in space…to successfully bring home the bacon… all while going backwards.
所以螞蟻是整合了許多資訊的，比如位置地標、太陽的方位，還有它們自己的身體在天地間的位置，然後才能成功把肉帶上，全部調頭回家。
Lead author Antoine Wystrach, a CNRS researcher at the University of Toulouse 3, adds:
該文章的第一作者Antoine Wystrach，是在圖盧茲第三大學的一位法國科研中心的研究人員，他補充道：
“This behavior is interesting in itself, as it implies a synergy between at least three types of memory: the long-term memories of the route sceneries, the memory of the new direction to follow, and the memory of the cookie left behind.”
這個行為本身很有趣，因為它暗示了在至少有三種類型的記憶之間的協同現象，路線周邊的長期記憶，跟隨的向新方向走的記憶，還有後面帶著食物的記憶 。
（編輯：何瑩瑩）
