Tasting the rainbow: The ants whose multi-coloured abdomens show exactly what they've been eating

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

A good palette: Some of the ants even wandered from one colour to another, creating new combinations in their stomachs

The saying 'you are what you eat' is true for these insects as stunning pictures show their abdomens changing colour as they sip on sugar drops.

Father of three Mohamed Babu set up the photographs after his wife, Shameem, showed him some ants had turned white after drinking spilt milk.

He gave the creatures the brightly coloured sugar drops and watched as their transparent stomachs matched the food they were eating.


Ring of colour: An ant's transparent abdomen shows the colour of the food they have eaten


Some of the ants even wandered from one colour to another, creating new combinations in their bodies.

Scientist Dr Babu, mixed the sugar drops with edible colours red, green, blue and yellow and placed them in his garden to attract the insects.

By placing them on a paraffin base the drops kept their shape when touched by the ants.


Eating their greens: The ants seemed to prefer lighter colours such as greens and yellow to darker blues

source :dailymail