# Creating an Ant Circle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556 "2012-11-01T12:57:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/1 "2012-11-01T12:57:40Z")
Can you grab an ant, drag it around in a circular pattern, and thereby create an any circle? Would this be a viable form of pest control? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/2 "2012-11-01T13:04:37Z")
Apparently, yes: > **[How to make ants commit suicide by going into a 'spiral of death' (which...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2119412/How-make-ants-commit-suicide-going-spiral-death-doesnt-ant-iclock-wise.html)** > > Most ants navigate by eyesight, but some army ants are completely blind – and they can become disorientated and march in circles until they die of exhaustion. (although this is reported in a not-too-reliable source, it looks as though there is a factual basis) ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/3 "2012-11-01T17:18:17Z")
Richard Feynman apparently once tried to do it, but lacked patience: [http://www.lanbogroup.com/cgi-bin/ccp/cp-app.cgi?usr=51J6903960&rnd=541&rrc=N&affl=&cip=&act=&aff=&pg=feynman](http://www.lanbogroup.com/cgi-bin/ccp/cp-app.cgi?usr=51J6903960&rnd=541&rrc=N&affl=&cip=&act=&aff=&pg=feynman) > [@Feynman](#): > > “I tried at one point to make the ants go around in a circle, but I didn’t have enough patience to set it up.” Not sure how this would be useful as a form of pest control, unless you plan to exhaust all ants into dying in this circle. ---
**Author:** ![ArmenE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ArmenE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArmenE)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/4 "2012-11-01T17:21:55Z")
> [@11811](#): > > Can you grab an ant, drag it around in a circular pattern, and thereby create an any circle? > > Would this be a viable form of pest control? Termites will follow lines drawn with BIC brand ballpoint pens since it either mimics or contains a chemical they use as a pheromone. Easier to than dragging around an ant, which may or may not be laying down pheromone ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/5 "2012-11-01T17:24:07Z")
I was going to try this with pine processionary caterpillars last time I was in Spain, but they’re quite dangerous to mess around with ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/6 "2012-11-02T23:26:14Z")
The WIkipedia article on [Ant Mills](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_mill) may be useful. > [@Mangetout](#): > > I was going to try this with pine processionary caterpillars last time I was in Spain, but they’re quite dangerous to mess around with Awww, if you had, we could have added you to [this section](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Processionary#Natural_controls) of the Wikipedia article on the species 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/7 "2012-11-03T12:52:33Z")
So this appears to be specific to select species of ants and then only to the worker class of the species. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/8 "2012-11-03T14:35:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I was going to try this with pine processionary caterpillars last time I was in Spain, but they’re quite dangerous to mess around with That is cool. From wiki: > [@](#): > > Fabre conducted a famous study on the processionary pine larvae where a group of them were attached nose-to-tail in a circle with food just outside the circle; they continued marching in the circle for a week ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-an-ant-circle/639556/9 "2012-11-03T15:10:00Z")
> [@11811](#): > > So this appears to be specific to select species of ants and then only to the worker class of the species. Some kinds of ants establish their foraging trails by scent, or pheromones. These are the kinds that can be induced to form a circle or mill. Other ants forage more individually and use sight to navigate. These would not follow other ants in a circle. Of course, it applies only to foraging ants, which are all sterile female workers or soldiers.