Picnic Ants Zachary Noonon

How do ants find food? Find food source Bring food back to the mound Pheromones Images:

What do ants eat? species- Will eat anything Most ants like fruits, honey, and sugar o Honeydew as central diet Some ants prefer greasy foods, meat or fungus Omnivorous scavengers Image:

Experiment Overview Why did I choose this experiment? Hypothesis: o Ants will be most attracted to foods that contain natural sugars, such as fruit, and least attracted to whole grains, greasy, or processed foods

Materials Ants Strawberry Banana Cheerios Peanut Butter Crackers Pepperoni

Experimental 1.Look for an ant mound 2.Place foods equidistant around the ant mound 3.Observe the trends and food preference

Results: Mound 1 2 mins- Ants were checking out all of the foods 12 min- Interest in the cheerios, banana, and strawberry faded 17 min- ants only seem interested in the pepperoni and peanut butter crackers 25 min- ant swarms form and continue 30 min- no change

Results: Mound 2 2 mins- ants find food 15 min- the same trends formed but the ants were interested in the cheerios, crackers, and pepperoni 22 mins- crackers were preferred most while the pepperoni and cheerios attracted some attention 30 min- no change

Conclusion Results: o Peanut Butter Crackers o Pepperoni o Cheerios o Banana/Strawberry Hypothesis Predictions: o Fruits (Banana, Strawberry) o Cheerios o Peanut Butter Crackers o Pepperoni

Changes Try fruit with different ripeness Variable distances from mounds Time of day Different locations

Questions?