Which of these five tasty flavours will fire
ants choose? Well, today we’re going to find out in the
ultimate ant taste test challenge. Welcome to the AntsCanada ant channel. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel, and hit the
BELL icon. Welcome to the AC Family! Enjoy! In all my years of ant keeping, I’ve never
tried to find out if my pet ants prefer certain tastes over others. I just simply threw in their food and they
ate it. But wouldn’t a knowledge of what flavours
ants prefer be great to know? Other than giving my pet ants their favourite
tasting food every day, knowing what flavours they like or dislike, may come in handy when
for instance, having a picnic outside at a park where fire ants might happen to be living. So that’s why this week, I decided to conduct
an experiment using my fire ant colony, the Phoenix Empire, as subjects for an ultimate
taste test, using some common flavours. I’ll tell you now, I was pretty surprised
at the results, and you might be, too, so keep on watching until the end! Now let’s go over the taste test experiment. This taste test was done using these sweet
jelly cups for three reasons: First, all the jelly cups had the same consistency, so the
ants couldn’t choose based on the texture of the food, seeing as ants have a general
preference for soft moist food over anything else. Second, all the jelly cups were the same amounts,
so I could more easily see how much of the food was eaten. And third, all the flavours were under the
sweet category, because if I were to offer different categories of flavours, like salty,
bitter, sour, etc, I’m pretty sure sweet and whatever a cockroach tastes like would
end up winning! Haha! Here are the five flavours we would be taste
testing today on our fire ants: First, white sugar. Ahhh the typical mother of sweetness. My fire ants used to drinking white sugar
dissolved in water in their sugar test tubes, which by the way, I let dry out a couple days
ago for this experiment. If white sugar flavour ends up winning, I’m
sure it’s because they’re already used to this flavour. Second, brown sugar. Do you think the ants would choose the healthier
sugar flavour? Does the brown sugar being healthier rule
even apply to ants? I’m not sure. The Phoenix Empire has had brown sugar water
in the past, so this taste is also not new to them. Third, honey! A very common choice of sugar source for ant
keepers. I have found that some species of ants don’t
particularly like honey only because they can’t digest it well, but honey flavoured
jelly might be more palatable. Let’s see. Fourth, banana. What fruit-loving animal doesn’t like banana,
a high sugar fruit with a distinct taste? Random fact: bananas are berries. Which brings us to our last flavour, strawberry. A lower sugar fruit, that random fact, again,
is actually not a berry. Don’t ask me! I’m just as upset that someone clearly lied
to us as kids! So AC Family, behold. The Phoenix Empire’s new sugar chamber. This venue would be a suitable place to have
the experiment as we can better control the environment. It’s just a simple take-out container, with
the lid cut up so we could see inside, lined with baby powder along the bottom so the fire
ants can’t escape. Not sure if this will be a permanent installment
to their setup, but it will do for this experiment! Inside we have our five flavours, each equidistant
from the entrance point, so that the fire ants don’t simply choose whichever cup is
closest. I’ll be connecting it to this port here
in their ac Test Tube portal where their empty sugar test tube is currently connected, because
the ants already know this place as the source of their sweet food, which will make this
experiment easier. So how will we know which flavour the ants
choose? Well, we will give the ants 12 hrs to sample
all flavours and whichever flavour has the most jelly eaten will be the winner. If we give the ants more time, I’m afraid
they’ll just eat everything and we won’t be able to tell which they liked the most. Sounds like a plan, guys? What’s your hypothesis? Which flavour do you think the ants will like
the most? Let us know in the comments section and at
the end go back to your comment and see if you were right! No cheating! Guys, let the taste test begin! Connecting the tube, and done. AC Family, let’s watch. Instantly, the ants travel through the tube
and enter the sugar chamber. At first, they took the time to explore the
new uncharted territories, but soon an ant discovered the banana and even had a taste
of the white sugar. Meanwhile, some other ants discovered the
brown sugar, and strawberry. Finally, the honey too was discovered. The ants began filling the area with pheromones
so that the oblivious ants below could come up and check out the sweet goods just above
them. I slipped a white paper under the container
so we could better watch the ants gather to feed from the jelly cups and observe their
trails. Check ‘em out! What’s great about this method of taste
testing is that ants actually work on a democratic system, where the collective ant mind is driven
by a pheromonal voting. The ants use chemicals to recruit and/or convince
surrounding ants to do something or come somewhere, and in this case, it’s to come try the jelly! Over time, we should see the ants’ collective
preference manifest as the ants crowdsource which one tastes the best to them! Sorry, it seems the brown sugar is hard to
see, but don’t worry. You’ll see the results shortly. Also while shooting, I noticed that some of
the fire ants were squeezing through tiny spaces between the lid and the container so
I had to place baby powder on the wall of the enclosure to solve that. Well so far, it seems banana is not a favourite,
and neither is honey. Interesting. The ants seem to be preferring the white sugar,
strawberry, and brown sugar, and in second place the honey, and banana the least favourite. By now the whole Phoenix Empire had been informed
of the new lands of sweet goodies and were pouring in in droves! Wouldn’t you if you were an ant that had
heard about the discovery a new sugarland? Moments later, I noticed that the ants were
starting to show a greater preference for white sugar. I mean, it’s what they’re used to right? I wonder if they will continue eating this
or move collectively from flavour to flavour. There were times when I felt like the ants
started to show a greater liking for the strawberry, but the preference wasn’t so obvious yet. It was definitely a toss up between the white
sugar and strawberry. And then, the strangest thing happened. Switching the camera position so you guys
can see. The ants began to show a preference for the
brown sugar! Am I just seeing things or do you guys see
slightly more ants at the brown sugar? Over the next while, the ants were jumping
between white sugar, strawberry, and brown sugar, and not feeling the honey nor banana
so much. I decided to come check up on the ants and
jelly cups in the morning, to see if there would be more clear evidence of a preference. The next morning, I saw this! So, looking at each one, I do see that the
flavour that currently has the most ants eating right now is strawberry, but in terms of volume
of jelly that was eaten, it was clearly brown sugar. Before going to bed, I did see that most of
the ants were chowing down on the brown sugar more than the others, so what I’m guessing
is the ants had their fill of the brown sugar, and then sorta got tired of the taste, and
moved on to their second favourite: strawberry. Despite being popular first, white sugar appeared
to be in third place, fourth honey, and last place banana. Banana’s surface was still smooth which
meant it was hardly touched! And so, AC Family, it seems brown sugar is
our winner and the top most favoured flavour of the five! Well, were the results what you thought? Guess I’m not going to be bringing brown
sugar-coated strawberries to my next picnic, but instead will take bananas dipped in honey! Haha! To be absolutely sure, though, this experiment
would need to be run several times, perhaps arranging the jelly cups in different positions,
to see if the results come out the same each time. I also figured some margins of error could
have been the colour of the jelly. Perhaps the ants could have had a preference
for or an aversion to certain colours. Maybe the ants don’t like the colour yellow,
and well the brown sugar seems to be the same colour as the roaches they love. Next time I should try to create jelly cups
of different flavours but all the same colour. I also realized placement of my lighting could
have possibly affected the results, too. What I also found interesting was that my
ants got sorta fed up with one flavour and moved on to another, so perhaps every time
I try to duplicate this experiment they may choose differently. Now I know that variety will keep them happier
than just feeding them the same old thing every day! Whatever the case, this was such a fun experiment
to try out with you guys! What other cool and safe experiments should
we try on our Phoenix Empire? I sometimes like doing these kinds of videos,
too for science! So it’s clear that ants really love their
sugars, which worker ants absolutely need to power all their daily energy-demanding
activities. Whether they get it from natural sugar sources,
fruits, or sweet foods left behind by humans, ants always did and forever will have the
ultimate sweet tooth. Thank you for watching and supporting the
ants! It’s ant love forever! AC Family, did you enjoy today’s episode? Were the results what you expected? I’m now craving something sweet! So much more is ahead for the Phoenix Empire
and other creatures of the ant room, so if you haven’t yet, do SMASH that SUBSCRIBE
button and BELL ICON now, and hit ALL so you get notified at every upload. Also don’t forget to hit the LIKE button
every single time including now. It would really mean a lot to me, guys. Thank you! AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie
for you here, if you would like to watch extended play footage of the Phoenix Empire feasting
on their sweet jelly! And guys, did you know that it’s anting
season in the Northern Hemisphere, and you don’t even need to leave your home to start
an ant colony?! You can catch pregnant queen ants from the
safety of your own backyard, balcony, or open window starting this month! Be sure to visit AntsCanada.com for all your
ant keeping and collecting gear shipped to you in a special package from our ant-loving
facility in the USA, so you can get the most out of your ant keeping experience. We ship worldwide and also offer full email
support if you need our help! We also have a helpful forum and ant colony
trading marketplace on the site. Visit AntsCanada.com today. And now it’s time for the AC Question of
the Week. Last week, we asked: Why was the temple called Shelfordella? Congratulations to Mandy De La Rosa who answered: It was called Shelfordella because their scientific
name is Shelfordella lateralis. Congratulations Mandy, you just won a free
Ultimate Ant Keeping handbook from our shop! In this week’s AC Question of the Week we
ask: Which of the flavours would you choose if
you were an ant? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could also win a free ebook handbook from our shop! Hope you could subscribe to the channel as
we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and
SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video, to help us keep making more. It’s ant love forever!
