There, as a price for blindly following those in front of you 

2022

video installation

2:22 min. 

Take army ants for instance. These aggressive insects have a dangerous tendency to commit mass suicide just because they're following the leader.

This bizarre phenomenon, in which ants circle around and around until they all drop dead of exhaustion is called an "ant mill."

So what's going on that causes these ants to seemingly go mad? It's all tied in to what makes them evolutionarily unique, where their advantage characteristics also serve to create at least one particular disadvantage.

Army ants, unlike most other ant species are blind. As the first ant in line travels it leaves behind a pheromone trail that other ants sniff out and follow. When this system works well, it allows foraging parties lead larger groups back to food. When it doesn't work, the ants follow these pheromone trails as they flow back into each other, ending up in an endless loop that they follow to their doom. If the circle isn't broken for some reason, they will never escape.