﻿ Examples of animals with navigation systems

Examples of animals with navigation systems

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Desert Ants

Navigation requires both a compass and a map. Map shows the location and compass shows where to go. Black ants, living in the vicinity of Mahore in the Mediterranean coast of Tunisia, leave their nests to seek for the dead bodies of the other insects which are not as resistant to heat as they are. They come out in the heat of the desert sand with a temperature sometimes nearing to 70 degrees Celsius under the rising sun of the morning. When required, this long legged desert creature can cover a distance of 1 meter per second. Starting from its nest, a desert ant follows a twisting path of up to 200 meters in an area, frequently stopping and turning around itself.

Despite the complexity of all these zigzags, it plots a direct ]course to its nest immediately after finding its food. The significance of the job the ant achieves is better understood when considering the scarcity of signs required to find direction in a desert land.

Studies show that ants use the sky like a compass with their visual senses which are especially sensitive to the polarized light of the Sun.

Sand Scorpions

Although sand scorpions which live in deserts are nearly blind, they can follow their prey or escape from the enemy with the help of sensors which are on the tips of their feet and can sense movements causing vibrations smaller than a millionth of a millimeter.


The slightest movement, such as perching of a butterfly, creates two different waves of vibration in the sand. These two waves propagate at different speeds. Comparing the arrival times of these waves, the scorpion determines the distance to its prey. The scorpion can also determine the direction of its prey precisely, comparing the arrival times of the wave with lower speed to its sensors nearest to its prey and farthest from it. Furthermore these last two signals are slightly delayed to allow the scorpion determine for an exact calculation. However the duration of the delay is shorter than an eye blink. Thus if the difference between two signals is around five percent of a second, then the scorpion waits no more than an instant to attack its prey. Each sensor of a scorpion works almost like a computer which is capable of hundreds of detections and calculations in a second. (Bilim Teknik Dergisi [Science & Technology Journal], May 1995, Issue:330, pg.69)

Perfect Flight Systems of the Insects

The different flight systems of the insects as well are magnificent examples of our Mighty Lord’s art of Creation.

The monarch butterfly can fly from North America to the inner Central America. Flies and dragon flies can stay suspended in the air.

Wings of the insects have different features of Creation. Some insects have two, some have four wings. Some insects fold their wings under a protective shell, some have membrane wings, and some like butterflies have scaled wings. Each type of wing exhibits a distinct perfection.

Wing joints of insects are made of resilin which is a protein with perfect flexibility. Chemical engineers are trying to reproduce this substance in their laboratories due to its features far superior to both natural and artificial rubber.


Resilin is a material which can store all the energy applied through bending and then can completely release the stored energy back when the applied force is removed. In this way, the efficiency of resilin can reach to 96% which is a very high rate. Hence 85% of the energy spent during the uplift of the wings are stored and then reused during the pushdown of the wings.

Chest walls and muscles are created in a special form as well to allow the accumulation of energy. In this way an incredible amount of energy is created enabling vibration of the wings at a rate of 200 (honeybee), or even 1000 (midge) times per second.



2011-04-17 16:48:25
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