{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T20:17:07Z","timestamp":1775074627252,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Front Zool"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2009,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>\n              <jats:italic>Cataglyphis fortis<\/jats:italic> ants forage individually for dead arthropods in the inhospitable salt-pans of Tunisia. Locating the inconspicuous nest after a foraging run of more than 100 meters demands a remarkable orientation capability. As a result of high temperatures and the unpredictable distribution of food, <jats:italic>Cataglyphis<\/jats:italic> ants do not lay pheromone trails. Instead, path integration is the fundamental system of long-distance navigation. This system constantly informs a foraging ant about its position relative to the nest. In addition, the ants rely on visual landmarks as geocentric navigational cues to finally pinpoint the nest entrance.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Apart from the visual cues within the ants' habitat, we found potential olfactory landmark information with different odour blends coupled to various ground structures. Here we show that <jats:italic>Cataglyphis<\/jats:italic> ants can use olfactory information in order to locate their nest entrance. Ants were trained to associate their nest entrance with a single odour. In a test situation, they focused their nest search on the position of the training odour but not on the positions of non-training odours. When trained to a single odour, the ants were able to recognise this odour within a mixture of four odours.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>The uniform salt-pans become less homogenous if one takes olfactory landmarks into account. As <jats:italic>Cataglyphis<\/jats:italic> ants associate environmental odours with the nest entrance they can be said to use olfactory landmarks in the vicinity of the nest for homing.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/1742-9994-6-5","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,2,27]],"date-time":"2009-02-27T19:14:10Z","timestamp":1235762050000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":119,"title":["Smells like home: Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, use olfactory landmarks to pinpoint the nest"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Kathrin","family":"Steck","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Bill S","family":"Hansson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Markus","family":"Knaden","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2009,2,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"93_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"579","DOI":"10.1007\/s00359-003-0431-1","volume":"189","author":"R Wehner","year":"2003","unstructured":"Wehner R: How miniature brains solve complex tasks. 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