A new study reveals European rock ants are prone to turn left at an intersection or crossroads, a habit linked to a group trait that boosts their chances of survival.

Animals and humans apparently show a preference for one side over the other when it comes to movement. Ninety percent of humans are right handed while the European honeybee is reliant on its right eye to detect objects.

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Some insects including the American cockroach lean towards turning right based on observations by scientists in an experiment where they used a Y-shaped tube. Giant water bugs prefer turning left when it comes to underwater T-mazes.

Animals with backbones including humans deal with this asymmetry believed linked to two lobes in the brain that allow an organism to simultaneously execute different tasks.

A research team from the University of Bristol and University of Oxford conducted an experiment on Temnothorax albipennis to find if this ant will demonstrate any lateral bias.

During the first experiment, ants from eight different colonies were observed by scientists upon inspection of a brand new nest. The groups turned left in 35 different cases after entering the nest.

The second one involved a maze with lanes that extended into two forks. When the ants crawled into the second fork, the ants preferred turning left 50 times compared to 30 right turns.

Study co-author Edmund Hunt of the University of Bristol said that even if this experiment isn't conclusive, it can still be considered as good evidence that presents a left turn bias among ants on a significant population level.

Hunt also adds this lateral preference could be a manifestation of survival instincts that results in members of a colony gathering together in the same area. It's also possible ants predominantly use their left eye to track predators and the right eye for navigation.

This study was published in the journal Biology Letters of the British Royal Society.

TagsStudy: Ants Are Apparently Lefties, Ants, ants lean left more, european rock ants, university of bristol, inoversity of oxford