Researchers collecting ants from pavements and traffic islands in Manhattan to learn more about the diet of these miniscule creatures found they were eating a lot of junk food.

Clint Penick, a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University, went to Broadway to study about the intake of city ants using an aspirator to collect samples.

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Yes, it turns out ants like junk food, most of which are rich in sugars. This finding might seem clear to anyone who's ever witnessed an army of ants attack a spilled can of soda or an unlucky ice cream cone on the sidewalk.

But like New Yorkers, ants have quite distinct eating habits, said the study.

Like humans, ants have a diet heavy in sugars, corn and sugarcane that leaves a chemical signature in the ants' body in the form of carbon-13, a carbon element. Penick and his team examined the levels of carbon-13 found in 21 ant species gathered from dozens of sites on New York City's sidewalks, traffic islands and parks.

The pavement ant or Tetramorium Sp. E. showed the highest levels of carbon-13. As mentioned previously, not all ant species living close to people are interested in eating garbage. To cite an example, Lasius cf. emarginatus, which has been found in New York for the last five years, doesn't seem to have a taste for human foods.

Researchers said Tetramorium Sp. E. found in parks had relatively low levels of carbon-13, which means they ate more natural foods.

"Helpful in building a world view if we're thinking more widely about energy flow, urban planning and urban ecosystems," said Terry McGlynn, an associate professor of biology at California State University.

The new study appeared in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

TagsAnts Love Junk Food Too Study Reveals, Ants, junk food, Tetramorium Sp. E. specie, carbon-13, Eating Habits