Ant Colony Foraging Simulation
This simulation models how a colony finds food and shares that knowledge through pheromone trails. Ants explore the map, pick up food, and lay scent on the way home. Nest-mates without food follow those trails back toward the source. The landscape includes open ground (fast travel), rough mud (slower movement), and black impassable patches that appear only inside rough areas. Use New Map to generate fresh terrain, Start to place the colony and food and run the simulation, and Stop to pause it.
Rules
- Pheromone Communication - Ants with food leave chemical trails that guide other colony members toward food sources.
- Food Collection - Ants explore randomly, then return directly to the colony when carrying food.
- Terrain - Open ground is fastest; rough ground slows ants; black cells are impassable obstacles nested inside rough patches.
- Trail Following - Foragers sense trails and travel outbound (away from the nest) toward stronger scent.
- Homing Choices - Ants carrying food steer around rough ground when a clearer left-or-right path exists.
References
All content on this page — including photos, videos, and field audio recordings — was created by Karl-Heinz Müller, a Montréal-based wildlife filmmaker, sound recordist, and photographer. Founder of MUUUH and Québec Sauvage, he has spent over a decade documenting Canada’s natural habitats through immersive soundscapes and wildlife films. Learn more about Karl-Heinz
Last updated: 2026-05-20