How Can Ants Change Color?

Using food coloring and sugar, Dr. Mohamed Babu discovered that ants change color in response to their food. He mixed the food coloring with sugar to create a liquid that ants would drink. He then placed the liquid on a white plastic sheet and waited for the ants to feast.

Another experiment showed that ants change colour in response to temperature. At high temperatures, ants became darker. At low temperatures, they remained light and pale.

A study by the University of Liverpool investigated colour polymorphism across three continents. They collected data from ants on fourteen mountains in South America, South Africa and Australia. The findings indicated that ants are not merely colour blind, but have a sophisticated ability to distinguish different colours, although the difference between the spectra of red, yellow and green is not quite as dramatic as expected.

Researchers also studied colour learning in ants. Some ants nibbled at different colors, while others simply wandered from one color to another. Some ants even changed the colour of their stomachs. The ants’ ability to distinguish the different colors in their food may be a result of the fact that their bodies are transparent.

Scientists have long been fascinated by colour variation in species. Although the colour morphs are relatively rare, many species have them. In particular, damselflies and scale-eating cichlids have color polymorphisms. In damselflies, gynomorphs (the morph that produces the most reproductive offspring) and andromorphs (the morph that produces least reproductive offspring) are frequency-dependent.