When Katie Guhl unlocks the door to her home after coming back from a long trip to New Orleans and then to New Jersey, all she wants is to finally relax. However, her new roommates in her 6th-story New York apartment have different plans for her. Swarms of ants are now cohabiting in the space even though last time Guhl had been there, the place was spotless, not a crumb in sight. Guhl was infuriated.
While cockroaches may run rampant in New York, not many ants can be found in high-up apartments as they usually prefer lower areas with much more soil, swarming around more suburban areas. Despite this, more and more New Yorkers have woken up to find that they have swarms of ants as their new and uninvited housemates infesting their kitchens. One Reddit user posted, “Woke up this morning to ants crawling around my living room. I live on the 3rd floor and have never had problems with any insects.”
Reporter Melissa Russell Paige said that she has lived for eight years in the same 2nd story apartment and never had a problem with ants, but suddenly “they just showed up one day.” She added that she “never saw an ant even once.” As more and more people are experiencing this strange phenomenon, some have started studying these ants.
Samantha Kennett, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University in South Georgia in Dr. Clint Penick’s social insects’ lab finds the ants fascinating. While many New Yorkers may believe that these ants’ migration to their apartments is extremely annoying and are focusing on getting rid of them, Kennett wants to figure out why it has happened.
Kennett studies Lasius Emarginatus, a type of ant that has started thriving in New York, so much so that it has been dubbed the ManhattAnt. “My research focuses on understanding how this ant, who is now one of the most common ants in New York City, has been able to be so successful, surviving in highly urban habitats,” she said. However, until her research succeeds, New Yorkers will have to deal with these 6-legged menaces in their homes.
While cockroaches may run rampant in New York, not many ants can be found in high-up apartments as they usually prefer lower areas with much more soil, swarming around more suburban areas. Despite this, more and more New Yorkers have woken up to find that they have swarms of ants as their new and uninvited housemates infesting their kitchens. One Reddit user posted, “Woke up this morning to ants crawling around my living room. I live on the 3rd floor and have never had problems with any insects.”
Reporter Melissa Russell Paige said that she has lived for eight years in the same 2nd story apartment and never had a problem with ants, but suddenly “they just showed up one day.” She added that she “never saw an ant even once.” As more and more people are experiencing this strange phenomenon, some have started studying these ants.
Samantha Kennett, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University in South Georgia in Dr. Clint Penick’s social insects’ lab finds the ants fascinating. While many New Yorkers may believe that these ants’ migration to their apartments is extremely annoying and are focusing on getting rid of them, Kennett wants to figure out why it has happened.
Kennett studies Lasius Emarginatus, a type of ant that has started thriving in New York, so much so that it has been dubbed the ManhattAnt. “My research focuses on understanding how this ant, who is now one of the most common ants in New York City, has been able to be so successful, surviving in highly urban habitats,” she said. However, until her research succeeds, New Yorkers will have to deal with these 6-legged menaces in their homes.
