RIP

Ants follow eachother in a line so they don't get lost on their way back to the nest. When they've lost track of the scent for any number of different reasons back to the nest they will follow the ant in front of them for guidance eventually turning into a "death spiral" seen in the picture. The ants are lost and will never find their way home and will march to their deaths.

This death spiral/"ant mill" is actually quite short, though still deadly - in the worst case scenarios, a death spiral can be literally kilometers long, some ants might not even make a single revolution around it, which is kinda terrifying to think about.
- I'm not an ant, so it's not really scary at all to me.
  
  You don't follow the pheromones of fellow humans when you lose track of home?
  
  I did once, but I got arrested.
  
  And banned from Sea World?
:(
Makes you wonder why they’d shout hurrah in that situation.

They run in that circle until they die because they're all following the one in front of them.

Can’t you redirect their focus by dropping something nutritious nearby?
- You probably could and that might redirect their focus for a bit, but I would think if they've lost the scent/trail back to their hill (which is the original cause for the death spiral in the first place), they're permanently fubar'd, since they'll never find their way back unless by accident. It might just delay the inevitable.
  
  I would assume you could redirect them to where the scent trail is present/stronger again, i.e. very close to their hill.

They're just following the trail of pheromones ahead of them. It goes around in circles so they'll just walk and walk until they die of exhaustion.

Never heard about it so had to read up on it, it's as obscure as a rat king to me.

rat kings are mostly fake though
- Current sience says it's very rare, but can happen naturally. There are multiple confirmed modern sightings.
  
  I did say "most," 1963, 2005 and 2021 are the only real ones I can find.
  Compared to there being dozens in the 17th and 18th centuries
  
  I imagine we did more rat watching back then.
  
  They didn't have YouTube.
  
  RatTube. Where it's just, you watch a tube with rats in it.
  
  Like a kaleidoscope!
  
  But this one eats you when you look down it! Hooray!
- What makes you say that?
  
  reason why i said "most" not "all" most examples are from the 17th and 18th century when proof was hard to ascertain and there have only been a handful of modern occurring examples since the prevalence of science and photography
  
  Far fewer rats living like they did in the 17th and 18th century nowadays, though. It really feels like one of those things where it's difficult to prove either way since the conditions cannot be duplicated in modern times. I'm still leaning towards more being faked, but not having huge chunks of a population living in 17th century squalor may be a factor in whether or not a rat king could actually form.
  
  Far fewer rats living like they did in the 17th and 18th century nowadays, though.
  TIL rats also have wealthy capitalists siphoning the means of production. Imagine being a rat back then. All the free food and squalor. Makes sense there would be more kings!
  
  fair. but having gone through a phase where I read all of Crowley, Eteilla, Charles Fort, bunch of Golden Dawn / Rosicrucian texts etc I just get this feeling that it was hokum most of the time for dramatic effect
  
  Fair enough.

Circle of death! Rip circle ants.

How do we make this just, you know, happen I fuckin hate ants
- There's zero reason to hate ants? What a lame comment.
  
  They won't stay out of my fucking kitchen so I hate them too. Seriously never had this bad of a problem until this house, I too would like to know how to weaponize circle pits in my kitchen.
  If they could read the "no ants allowed" sign we'd be alright, they're free to live their lives, until they become home invaders, then I have to defend myself.
  
  I mean, to be real, they were there first and are the most abundant terrestrial creature in the planet.
  Joking aside, ants go where there are reasons to go; food, security, and refuge. You can use a natural insecticide, lemongrass, to repel them. Hotshot was a product I used in the past to spray around windows and doors. It's safe for pets and children after it has time to dry. Not sure what you've tried, but that has worked for me.
  
  The only thing that actually worked for me so far was Terro traps, but in this house unlike my previous residences they just. Keep. Coming. There must be some kinda supercolony under this neighborhood or something. Maybe Antman's lair.
  
  Have you had ants setup shop in your coffee maker before, or you cereal? Ants that follow you to work in your butt crack somehow? Lucky you.
  
  Personally input everything with sugar in it in a sealed container. Started doing that about 8 years ago and I've never had an issue with ants since (they were the reason I started doing that).
  Butcrack ants are pretty funny though
  
  I always get ants in my bathroom, there's no sugar in my bathroom.
  
  They're going after my fucking water.

Would like to know as well.

I believe they usually follow the trail of the ants walking infront of them so when they're walking in a circle they'll technically walk in a circle indefinitely.