Army ants trapped in a circular pheromone loop — a tragedy of collective intelligence
Army ants (Eciton) navigate by pheromone gradients. Isolated from the colony, they follow the strongest trail — each other.
This creates a positive feedback loop: a rotating mill where thousands of ants circle until exhaustion.
Observed in nature; the largest recorded mills are over 370m in circumference (Schneirla, 1944).
High pheromone decay disrupts the mill; low decay makes it self-reinforcing.