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Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

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Re: Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

#43

Post by veunes »

hammock wrote: post #2

The weight of all ants on Earth is roughly equal to the weight of all humans- aka there are a lot of ants. And can be found everywhere mammals are able to live. So they make sense as a food source

From an evolutionary standpoint, it totally makes sense to adapt around that buffet

Re: Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

#45

Post by fnordsensei »

veunes wrote: post #43
hammock wrote: post #2

The weight of all ants on Earth is roughly equal to the weight of all humans- aka there are a lot of ants. And can be found everywhere mammals are able to live. So they make sense as a food source

From an evolutionary standpoint, it totally makes sense to adapt around that buffet

We should be eating more ants, it seems like a largely untapped source of protein then.

Re: Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

#46

Post by cloudbonsai »

harimau777 wrote: post #4

At the end of all things, when evolution has reached its inevitable end, all that will be left is a war between ant eaters and crabs.

> At the end of all things, when evolution has reached its inevitable end, all that will be left is a war between ant eaters and crabs.

From reading the aritcle, it seems that ants are really crappy as an energy source:

  One thing myrmecophages share is an almost insatiable appetite — ants and termites are so low in energy that even a small animal like the numbat must eat about 20,000 termites a day
I think this explains why Anteaters spend most of their day doing nothing but sleep -- they barely get enough calories from eating ants.

Re: Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

#47

Post by krige »

esseph wrote: post #17
znyboy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crabs are already quite susceptible to ants, due to ants being small enough to swarm and attack the joints and gaps of the crab's carapace.

What about a crab made out of ants?

Now that's distributed systems

Re: Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

#48

Post by tim333 »

I sometimes think how AI will change things on evolutionary time scales. We've had hundreds of millions of years of evolving reproducing DNA coming up with different body types being the main thing going on on earth and now we'll have a new digital life like thing going forward.

Re: Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

#49

Post by mykarakus »

frutiger wrote: post #16
Qem wrote: post #9

Did any anteater dinosaurs exist before that?

Ant eating dinosaurs exist today: https://learnbirdwatching.com/birds-that-eat-ants/

I'm disappointed to not see chickens there! I like thinking of them as little descendants of dinosaurs.

Re: Mammals Evolved into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since Dinosaur Age, Study Finds

#50

Post by Scaevolus »

hammock wrote: post #2

The weight of all ants on Earth is roughly equal to the weight of all humans- aka there are a lot of ants. And can be found everywhere mammals are able to live. So they make sense as a food source

ant biomass is estimated to be 20% of human biomass, so it's remarkably close https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2201550119
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