If they had intelligence (= ability to build models) they could easily shorten the bridge, thereby freeing bridge building ants for foraging, but their evolved algorithm is too primitive for that.
Looks like they simply use smell to walk towards clumps of other ants, and stay in place while being trampled on? (Some ant species also have a rough homing algorithm based on polarized sky light direction and crawled distance.) Does it look impressive to you?
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No one said here they're designing and calculating bridges like engineers. Taking their size (especially brains) into account, yes I think that is impressive.
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I can point you to breathless articles where people say almost literally that... Personally, watching their bridges cured me of the notion that ants add up to a level of cognitive capacity that would beat even a shrew (which has the same number of neurons as 200 ants).
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