City ants love junk food

Animals evolve to suit their environment, and nowhere is this as shockingly evident as in recent research into the eating habits of urban ants. Ants which live on city sidewalks and traffic medians in Manhattan have evolved to take advantage of - even prefer - the fatty, high-sugar foods that humans tend to drop.

Compared to their rural brethren, city ants have adapted to a steady diet of dropped potato chips, ice cream drips, and fallen cookie crumbs. This is evidenced by their higher levels of carbon 13 in their bodies, corresponding to that in processed foods which are high in corn and cane sugar.

I wonder how the ants manage to stay so lean on that diet, though? What secrets are they holding out on us?

Image courtesy Flickr/0xFCAF