The Odd World of Animals Walking in Circles: From Sheep to Ants

Last November, a bizarre event in China garnered millions of views online, rapidly going viral: for over twelve days, sheep in an enclosure were seen walking in clockwise circles, day and night, with no explanation as to why.

The event took place on a farm owned by Mr. Miao, who reported that on November 4th some sheep 'strayed' from the flock and started circling. "After a few hours, I saw more and more sheep joining them, and I couldn't understand why. After a few more hours, the entire flock was within the circle," Mr. Miao shared. He further added that if this was a 'language' among the sheep, then sheep from the other 34 corrals he owns would have joined the circle too.

However, according to him, only one flock behaved in this way, while the other 33 flocks in different pens behaved normally.

Now, it turns out, this behavior is also observed in ants, a phenomenon known as the 'death spiral' or ant mill - and not without reason.

As you can see in the attached video, ants go round and round without stopping. Why does this happen? Here's a few facts to help you understand: due to their blindness, ants cannot really decide 'where to go' on their own. They follow each other on the 'assumption' that the one leading the parade knows where they are headed.

How do they know where to go? They use scent trails created by pheromones released by ants that 'know' the route.

The problem arises when these ants suddenly lose the scent, and thus the path.

And because they are blind, as mentioned, they continue to follow each other in a spiral, without direction or purpose, unaware that the way out needs to be an exit from the circle.

So why is it called the 'death spiral'? You guessed correctly.

The ants, lacking 'minds' of their own, continue marching in circles, endlessly, until they tire and die. Just like that.