いったいなぜなんだろう？
iPhoneに着信が入ると同時に、アリたちが一斉にiPhoneの回りをぐるぐる回り始めた。
YouTubeのViralVideoLabの説明によると「着信時の電磁波」が理由だという。
アメリカ・ニューイングランド大学の昆虫学者でオーストラリア出身のナイジェル・アンドリュー氏は「アリは触覚で磁力を感知しているので、iPhoneの電磁波がアリの方向を狂わせているのだ」と解説する。
「アリの行動に影響を与えているのは、バイブレーションだ」と考えるのは、イリノイ大学のジーン・ロビンソン教授だ。「アリは、別のアリが通った跡をなぞって歩く習性がある。渋滞するのを避けるため、とても精巧な『交通規則』がある」という。
「私は、電話を置く前に、アリがすでに周回行動に入っていたと考える」。コーネル大学の生物進化と昆虫学の教授、アヌラグ・アグラワル氏はハフポストの取材に別の説を唱えた。
Tech Insiderは、このビデオがウソだという仮説を打ち出した。「アリが何かに影響されて、びっくりするような行動を取っている可能性は否定できないが、全体的にこの動きはアリらしくない」と昆虫学者のフィル・トーレス氏は語っている。
この記事はハフポストUS版に掲載されたものを翻訳しました。
The Coolest Insects EVER
(01 of22)
(credit:Flickr:USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring)
Blue shiny bug(02 of22)
(credit:Flickr:Tambako the Jaguar)
Praying Mantis(03 of22)
(credit:Flickr:siamesepuppy)
(04 of22)
A blue damselfly (Platycnemis pennipes) rests on a reed at the edge of a small lake near Briesen, Germany, on May 13, 2012. Dragonflies are evidently amongst the oldest flying insects with around 5000 known species worldwide. Only 80 dragonfly species can be found in Germany. (PATRICK PLEUL/AFP/GettyImages) (credit:Getty Images)
(05 of22)
A Coccinellidae, more commonly known as a ladybug or ladybird beetle, rests on the petals of a rose in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, May 26, 2010. The name \"ladybird\" originated in the Middle Ages when the insects were known as the \"beetle of Our Lady\". (AP Photo/Don Ryan) (credit:AP)
Robber Fly (Mallophora)(06 of22)
(credit:Flickr:siamesepuppy)
Mexican Bush Katydid Nymph(07 of22)
(credit:Flickr:siamesepuppy)
Lightning Bug(08 of22)
(credit:Flickr:Jo Naylor)
Grasshopper(09 of22)
(credit:Flickr:Sandy__R)
Weevil(10 of22)
(credit:Flickr:gailhampshire)
Larinus onopordi(11 of22)
(credit:Flickr:Sandy__R)
(12 of22)
(credit:Flickr:bruceruston)
(13 of22)
A ladybug clings to the edge of a Stone Crop Sedum leaf on Tuesday morning June 25, 2013, in Salina, Kan. (AP Photo/Salina Journal, Tom Dorsey) (credit:AP)
(14 of22)
A dragonfly is pictured at a garden in Kathmandu on June 27, 2012. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/GettyImages) (credit:Getty Images)
(15 of22)
After emerging from winter hibernation, hundreds of ladybird beetles often called ladybugs cluster in the leaves under a shrub on the South Hill in Spokane, Wash. on Sunday, March 31, 2013. The ladybird beetle, Hippodamia convergens, is a gardeners best friend, eating perhaps its weight in aphids daily. Strict carnivores, they eat no leafy vegetation. (AP/The Spokesman-Review, Colin Mulvany) (credit:AP)
(16 of22)
A dragonfly rests in a garden in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, July 11, 2013. Weather forecasts predict sunny weather for the next few days in Serbia. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) (credit:AP)
(17 of22)
In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, Zack Lemann, animal and visitor programs manager of the Audubon Butterfly Garden Insectarium, shows a Northern mole cricket he found as he collects bugs for their exhibits in Des Allemands, La. Some of the bugs are raised to exhibit later at the insectarium, while others are shipped to museums. Much of an insectariums stock dies in a year or less, so the replenishment missions for local species are essential. (AP Photo/Kerry Maloney) (credit:AP)
(18 of22)
A beetle sits on a wild daisy at \'Thurrock Thameside Nature Park\' on June 6, 2013 in Thurrock, England. The 120 acres of grass, bramble and shrub that make up \'Thurrock Thameside Nature Park\' sits on top of what was Europe\'s largest landfill site overlooking the Essex coastline in the Thames Estuary. Over the last 50 years six of London\'s borough\'s had been dumping their rubbish on the site, (originally a huge gravel pit), which in places is over 30 metres thick. The £2.5Million GBP restoration project run by Essex Wildlife Trust and the landfill company Cory Environmental worked to compact the rubbish before adding a thick layer of clay, known as a pie-crust, over the waste, before covering it in soil. The area which when finished will encompass 845 acres is run by the Essex Wildlife Trust and is home to an array of wildlife including, Shrill Carder Bee, Great Crested Newt, Brown Hare, Avocet, Short-eared Owl, Barn Owl and Kingfisher. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
(19 of22)
A bumblebee gathers pollen on a flower on July 13, 2013 in the suburbs of Paris. (JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
(20 of22)
Bees gather nectar from lavender flowers on July 22, 2013 in Marseille, southern France. (BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
(21 of22)
A grasshopper, a symbol of France\'s south-eastern area of Provence, is pictured on a tree on July 22, 2013 in Marseille. (BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
(22 of22)
In this Monday, Sept. 24, 2012 photo, a Coneheaded katydid bites on the finger of Zack Lemann, animal and visitor programs manager of the Audubon Butterfly Garden Insectarium, as he and other employees collect bugs for their exhibits in Des Allemands, La. Some of the bugs are raised to exhibit later at the insectarium, while others are shipped to museums. Much of an insectariums stock dies in a year or less, so the replenishment missions for local species are essential. (AP Photo/Kerry Maloney) (credit:AP)
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