Abstract. This paper presents a novel swarm intelligence inspired routing algorithm (EARA) for mobile ad hoc networks. Based on the understanding of the evolutionary cooperation in the biological swarm, which provides an alternative solution resilient against changes in the dynamic environment, We use the principle of swarm intelligence for the reinforcement of optimal routes with only local communication (here, local communication is defined as neighbourto- neighbour one only). The data traffic is influenced at each node, and the communicating nodes observe this influence to update their tables. We also include an evaluation, and the simulation results show that this routing algorithm scales well to a variety of network conditions. KEY WORDS