|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Animal behaviourists in the UK believe that they have found the first evidence of two-way teacher-pupil communication between ants, suggesting that teaching behaviour may have evolved according to the value of information rather than brain size. Some ants run while looking for food, this is when one ant appears to lead another from the nest to a food source by using signals that control the speed and route of the journey. Professor Nigel Franks said: "We also believe that true teaching always involves feedback in both directions between the teacher and the pupil. "In other words, the teacher provides information or guidance for the pupil at a rate suited to the pupil’s abilities, and the pupil signals to the teacher when parts of the ‘lesson’ have been assimilated and that the lesson may continue." Franks and Tom Richardson at Bristol University examined tandem running in Temnothorax albipennis ants to see if this was an example of teaching with feedback going from teacher to pupil and vice-versa. The leader’s speed is controlled by frequent taps on its legs and abdomen by the antennae of the follower ant - who appears to stop frequently to learn the route back. Teaching differs from simply broadcasting information in that the teacher must modify their behaviour, at some cost, to assist a naive observer to learn more quickly. Franks and Richardson found that follower ants would indeed find food faster when they are being led than looking for it all alone, but the leader or the teacher would normally reach the food about four times faster, if foraging alone. — ANI |
|
|
|
|
