Ants wander from the nest, find food, and lay glowing pheromone trails. Real ants (e.g. Lasius niger) deposit trail pheromones from a gland near the abdomen tip; the chemical is volatile and evaporates within minutes, so only actively-reinforced paths stay strong. This positive-feedback loop lets a colony collectively compute the shortest route between nest and food without any single ant knowing the whole picture — a process studied in "ant colony optimization" algorithms. Cyan trails mark the way to food, orange trails mark the way home. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.