Pharaoh ant site. Pharaoh ant colonies appear to prefer familiar nests to novel nests while budding. This suggests the ability for colonies to remember certain qualities of their living space. However, if the novel (unfamiliar) nest is of superior quality, the colony may initially move toward the familiar, but will eventually select the unfamiliar. The colony assumes the familiar nest is preferable, unless they sense better qualities in the novel nest. This decision-making process seeks to minimize the time the colony is without a nest while optimizing the nest the colony finally chooses. The number of available budding locations has a large
Pharaoh ant been introduced. It also helps prevent ants from concentrating on an undesirable trail. Thus, the repellant pheromone makes the pharaoh ant a particularly efficient forager. Despite their extreme importance, there is an adaptive value to using pheromones sparingly, as it streamlines communication during important decision-making situations, such as a nest migration. Pharaoh ants use a positive feedback system of foraging. Each morning, scouts will search for food. When one finds it, it will instantly return to the nest. This causes several ants to follow the successful scout’s trail back to the food source. Soon, a large group will be upon