Ants are now eating more junk food - just like us
Ants are now eating more junk food - just like us
01/04/2015 - 09:41:11
Streetwise urban ants from New York have developed a taste for the kind of diet frequently chosen by their human homies.
Tests on insects collected from pavements and traffic islands in Manhattan show that their bodies contain the molecular fingerprint of junk food.
The same was not true of more genteel ants that frequent leafy park areas.
Lead researcher Dr Clint Penick, from North Carolina State University, said: “Human foods clearly make up a significant portion of the diet in urban species. These are ants eating our garbage, and this may explain why pavement ants are able to achieve such large populations in cities.”
The scientists tested more than 100 ants representing 21 species from dozens of sites in the Big Apple.
More:
http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/ants-are-now-eating-more-junk-food-just-like-us-669895.html
