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Ants Never Get Stuck in Traffic Jams. Here’s Why

Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica

Ants Never Get Stuck in Traffic Jams. Here’s Why

Humans, take notes. 

Unlike humans, ants don’t experience traffic jams, even at high densities.Photograph: Ozkan Bilgin/Getty Images

Ants are notoriously much better than humans at organizing their collective traffic flow when foraging for food, but how they manage to do so isn’t fully understood. Even in dense, crowded conditions, ant colonies still manage to maintain a smooth and efficient traffic flow, primarily by adjusting their behavior to adapt to changing circumstances, according to a new paper in the journal eLife.