Why do Ants like sugar?
It is estimated that there are around 20000 species of ants in the world. They inhabit in ecological niches which makes them to act as predators, herbivores, leaf-cutters, seed-harvesters, fungus growers and aphid tenders. They can be found in deserts, mountains, rainforests, valleys, and in all places from Arctic Circle to the tip of South America.
Ants eat different types of food. Some ants feed on various types of food while some restrict themselves to a very narrow range. Ants depend on stored food of the people for their eating purpose. The food type they invade on includes sugar cakes, breakfast cereals, cookies, food from spills and garbage, and on the dead matter. The worker ants collect food for the queen ant and they gather protein based foods for the queen. Sometimes the ants will not go searching for protein foods but, would like to gather only sugars and greases. The honey dew that is released by the insects is fed by the ants as it has sugar in it.
The storage of sugar should be done in a very tightly packed container in order to avoid easy entry of ant into it. There are specifically a group of ants called as sugar ants which have orange brown bodies and black heads. They are named as such as they eat mostly sugar as their food. Sugar ants are different from the bulldog ants though they look alike. Sugar ants form a big group in Australia and United States. But, their size and shape will differ based on the different species inhabiting various locations.
Sugar ants are primarily found to be interested in taking in honey dew from the aphids and caterpillars. Hence, these ants are also interested to feed on sugary food items or sugars. Sugar ants were also found to be feeding on other small insects. Ants are found to be interested in reaching towards the sugar as they can feel the sense of honey dew.
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