Why Ants Are Better Than Us: Episode 37

Apparently, people are stupid- When deciding between two equal but less than optimal choices, their ultimate decision is random, but when presented with a third option, they predictably choose one of those two original options (but for no apparent reason). Ants don't do this:

Then the scientists added a third option, called a decoy, that was similar to either A or B in one characteristic but clearly worse than both in the other (a very bright nest with a small opening, for example). Unlike humans, the ants were not tricked by the decoy, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Although a few colonies picked the third nest, the other colonies did not start favoring A or B and still split evenly between the two.