Here are three ant crowding limericks, runners up in the Ant Crowding Competition Limerick Competition that was announced in mini-AIR 2007-06. The winning limerick — not amongst the trio shown here — will be announced in mini-AIR 2007-07. The competition asked for a limerick to honor the following study:
“Optimal Traffic Organization in Ants Under Crowded Conditions,” A. Dussutour, V. Fourcassi?, D. Helbing and J.-L. Deneubourg, Nature, 2004, vol. 428, pp. 70?3.
The runners-up:
INVESTIGATOR DEBBIE HECHT:
The ants marched along two by two
From the hallway on into the loo
And though they were crowded
I’d like to know how did
They know how to do what they do.
INVESTIGATOR LEILA HDJ-CHIKH:
For ants that must travel to feed,
Their transit authority need
Is easily solved
By hormones evolved
To always avoid a stampede.
INVESTIGATOR MIGUEL PESSANHA PAIS:
When ants look for sugar they may
Find two paths that stand in the way.
They will make a choice,
Then feast and rejoice,
Though they’d have got there, anyway!