Ants may have the most various nutrition in the animal world. They eat almost things. There are more than 12.000 ant species and each of them eat a certain food which contribute to diverse their meals.

Ants are omnivores and they eat almost things that human can eat. There are four food group and anything in the kitchen: fruits, vegetables, meat and butter, sugar, oil, nuts, juice, etc. All of them are in ant’s menu.

As mentioned, there are many different ants in the world. Some of them have special nutrition and not all of them eat the same food in nature. Some are robbers, explorers, farmers and predators. Actually, depending on ant species, most of ants eat these kinds of food:

SUGAR AND FRUITS

Ants commonly eat sugary food when they find it. In some species, it is the only menu for them. In nature, sugary food is in nectar and fluids emitted by plants and flowers. Honeydew from aphids and other herbivorous species such as caterpillar, fruits and other sugary plants.

MEAT AND PROTEIN

Some ants prefer robbing and eating other insects. Ants also eat meat of bigger preys such as rodents or fishes as well as other animals if they have chances. In facts, Army ants have kill a huge number of animals. Read more Army ant.

NUTS AND SEEDS

Carpenter ant commonly find plant nuts as well as seeds, grasses, leaves and other plants.

VEGETABLES

Most of ants eat vegetables or plants and they are nuisances in the garden.

CANNIBALISM ANT

Along with being omnivores, ants are also predators and they will eat other ants. Typically, army ants hunt eggs, larvae or pupae of other ants. Army ants will invade other nests to eat pupae. Some ants design special entrances to prevent army ants from invading.

MUSHROOM

Leafcutter ants enhance the level of ant food. Based on their name, you may think that they will eat leaf but they only use these leaves to produce mushrooms which are called Lepiotaceae for their meals. They chew these leaves and eject to create substrate for growing mushroom. Leafcutter ants also use a kind of Bacterium to prevent poisonous mushroom and mold development.