Symmetry Breaking in Escaping Ants

@article{Altshuler2005SymmetryBI,
  title={Symmetry Breaking in Escaping Ants},
  author={Ernesto Altshuler and Osvanny Ramos and Y. Nunez and J. Fern{\'a}ndez and Alfo Jos{\'e} Batista-Leyva and Claro Noda},
  journal={The American Naturalist},
  year={2005},
  volume={166},
  pages={643 - 649}
}
The phenomenon of herding is a very general feature of the collective behavior of many species in panic conditions, including humans. It has been predicted theoretically that panic‐induced herding in individuals confined to a room can produce a nonsymmetrical use of two identical exit doors. Here we demonstrate the existence of that phenomenon in experiments, using ants as a model of pedestrians. We show that ants confined to a cell with two symmetrically located exits use both exits in… 
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150 Citations

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To study the rules of ant behavior and group-formation phenomena, Camponotus japonicus, a species of large ant, is examined in a range of situations, and the relationship between the number of ants in a group and the group flow rate is investigated.
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It is suggested that a combination of individual and grouping ants may help to optimize the likelihood of survival during evacuation, as ants asymmetrically escaped through two exits when the temperature of the heated platform was >32.75°C.
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