Tasting the rainbow: The ants whose multi-coloured abdomens show exactly what they've been eating
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.
A good palette: Some of the ants even wandered from one colour to another, creating new combinations in their stomachs
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.
The 53-year-old discovered the ants preferred lighter colours such as yellow and green.
He said: 'The idea for the photograph came to me after my wife showed me some ants that turned white sipping the spilled milk drops on our kitchen counter.
'I shot the photo in my garden to take advantage of the natural lighting and set a paraffin sheet with coloured sugar drops near some ants.
'Even though I could get enough of a crowd within a few minutes, it required several retakes to have a shot up to my satisfaction.'
Ring of colour: An ant's transparent abdomen shows the colour of the food they have eaten
Dr Babu, from Mysore, in South India said
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2022765/The-ants-multi-coloured-abdomens-exactly-theyve-eating.html#ixzz23lGcWRNn
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