How Do Ants Find Food — Ashley’s student essay
Ants are one of the most well-known insects to humanity. They are everywhere so it would be hard to never come in contact with one. Many people however, do not know how ants find their meals. Their sense of smell is the most contributing factor when locating food and their way back home to the nest. The way that these insects track down food is an interesting and organized method. Ants eat many different types of foods and different ants have their own special ways of finding that food.
There are two different types of ants that have different ways of finding food: the worker ants and carpenter ants. The worker ants mainly focus on receiving food for their queen ant, children, and reproductive male ants.
Worker ants travel far and wide to find their food and have a smart technique when it comes to searching for it. While out looking for food, the ants leave a trail of chemical scents behind them so that they could find their way back home.
Once they find a food source and start to head back home, they release more pheromones to reinforce the trail they made. This is because it tells the other ants that the trail leads directly to food.
Not only do worker ants have a special way of finding food, but carpenter ants do as well. Carpenter ants rely on their memories to find their way back home from finding food. As they travel, carpenter ants keep in mind of their surroundings so that they can remember their way back. Also, while out looking on their first trip to find food, they follow the chemical scents of other ants. This process may take longer than the method of the worker ants because they must have their antennae on the floor while searching for other ants’ pheromones.
When it comes to the menu, ants are not picky when choosing their meals. Overall, ants are mainly categorized as omnivores. Ants eat a variety of foods which include fat and sugar. Some ants even prefer to eat dead or living animals and insects. Whether they are outside or inside, ants will eat anything that interests their tastebuds. For example, ants like to eat other insects, fruits, meat, syrup, pet food, and anything that is sweet. When detecting these foods, ants use chemosense which can detect sugar. Ants are foragers and will travel anywhere for their food.
As you can see, worker and carpenter ants work hand-in-hand in finding their food. Ants, just like many other insects, have the ability to sense pheromones which assists them in their search for food. If it were not for the ants’ outstanding sense of smell, they would not find their food in an efficient way. Due to their intelligent method of leaving behind scents, the ants are not just running around everywhere trying to find food. They work together and use each other’s pheromones to find food in the least amount of time as possible. Even though they are small, ants are tenacious in locating their food.