Ant crawls along a lampshade fringe

[BicycleTree]

He's going someplace and there's no ...

There is this ant who has been crawling along the bottom hanging fringe of a lampshade by the computer for some time now, probably an hour, though he does go back onto the lampshade from time to time. Amazingly he can crawl from strand to strand without falling. They quiver as he passes.

Some months ago I watched an ant crawl around and around the top rim of a lampshade for hours, as long as I cared to watch. When I left he was still going around. He changed direction occasionally between clockwise and counterclockwise but he always stuck to the top rim. Funny thing was that at one point there was a spider on the lampshade, and he and the ant got pretty close together a few times. As far as I saw the spider took no action though.

 

[kaos]

I saw an ant crawling arond my table.It was moving in a straight line using its legs to propel itself forward. It seeemd to be engaging in an activity of ferrying pieces of stuff back and forth, towards a fixed location in the room. Strangely those piesces seemed to be larger than the ant.There also seemed to be other ants engaging in this bizarre behaviour, and going to the exact same spot. Then i squashed it.

Just comparing notes.

 

[BicycleTree]

That is fairly ordinary ant behavior. But what I want to know is why the second ant I mentioned stuck to the same circle. Was it something about the geometry of the lampshade rim? Was it merely that he was following his own trail?

Ant Walking Geometry Psychology--an open field?

It would be nice to make sculpture that is open to the air and totally ant-climbable, but designed so that ants just keep going around and around inside it without climbing out, just because of their psychology. That would be neat.

 

[JamesU]

I saw an ant once

 

[brewnog]

This thread has been a real ant-iclimax.

 

[JamesU]

that's just fantastic

 

[Moonbear]

Ant Walking Geometry Psychology--an open field?

Wide open! It's all yours if you really want it.

 

[Phobos]

I watched an ant crawl around and around the top rim of a lampshade for hours..

which is sillier?
(the orbiting ant, or you watching the orbiting ant?)

 

[Moonbear]

which is sillier?
(the orbiting ant, or you watching the orbiting ant?)

I'm rather hoping this was casual observation while doing something else in the vicinity of the lamp rather than intense study, otherwise BT really needs to find a better hobby.