How do small ants reach far-away eatables?
Ants have amazing capabilities. They have a keen sense of smell. A wandering ant might find a good source of food. Unlike us humans and many other species it does not sit down to devour it. It immediately makes its way to the colony to tell other ants. On the way back it lays down a trail of odorous matter to enable it and other ants to retrace the path using their sense of smell. I do not know how it convinces fellow ants that its find is rich and tasty enough to exploit in concert. Perhaps it carries back a sample. And then they come in numbers and pounce upon the find. The numbers that congregate depends on the quantity of the find available. If something is large and yet portable, like a dead insect, ants collaborate in carting it away. They would not be able to do it without the capability to laying down the trail, which their sense of smell can follow.
