---
title: "Ant (Camponotus / Formica) · Animals and other organisms · Entities · Simulation Hypothesis"
url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/entities/ant
description: "A small brain that handles long-distance navigation by counting steps (path integration) and remembering landmarks."
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)"
---

[Entities](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/entities) › Animals and other organisms › Invertebrates with brains

# Ant (Camponotus / Formica)

Camponotus spp.

A small brain that handles long-distance navigation by counting steps (path integration) and remembering landmarks.

Neurons

No published count

## Evidence

* Desert ants navigate long distances using path integration and visual landmark memory, with a tiny brain.  
Wehner R (2003) Desert ant navigation: how miniature brains solve complex tasks. J Comp Physiol A 189(8):579-588\. doi:10.1007/s00359-003-0431-1.

The [New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness](https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/nydeclaration/declaration) (2024) finds at least a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates and in many invertebrates, including cephalopods, decapod crustaceans and insects.

In the trees

[One queen, many workers · Ethics](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/trees/ethics?n=e-eusocial)

Assess it against the published criteria