Ants are classified as omnivores, which means their diet comes from a variety of both plants and animals. Ants are foragers by nature. Worker ants leave the nest in search of food sources, leaving what is called a “chemical trail” (pheromones) which other ants can pick up on, and follow to food sources. Once food is found, the ant will return to the nest, and other ants will work in shifts to follow the trails, retrieve food to bring back to the nest, and lay new chemtrails for the ants to follow (this is often why you see ants travelling in a single line formation, following the exact path of the ones before them).