We're lucky they haven't banded together against us, I'm not sure we could win against those shear numbers!
This is why the 2nd amendment is so important.
How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
41–50 of 58 posts
Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#42Reading the topic it sounded like a Fermi interview-question. Guess it would make a good one, if you believe in them.
Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
They specify wild mammals. Humans are like 600 megatons I think.
60 megatons. Study mentions that the 12 megatons of ants are equivalent to 20% of the total human mass.
No, 600 megatons (~E12 kg) is closer. There are E10 humans and we weigh E2 kg. More precisely: 6E1 kg * 8E9 = 5.6E11
Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#4420 quadrillion. That's 20 million billion. So given there are roughly 10 billion human beings on earth then the ants outnumber us by a factor of two million.
However, at 5 milligrams each the 2 million ants are only about a leg full.
Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#45Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#46So, it seems that's an average of 12.5 ants per square foot of land (20e15 / 1.6e15).
Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#47Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
They specify wild mammals. Humans are like 600 megatons I think.
Wow. That shows how much wildlife we've killed off. Whales, buffalo, elephants, and the list goes on. In a balanced world, I feel like we shouldn't have more mass than the total of all these massive creatures. I wonder in what year human biomass passed wild mammal biomass.
Pretty sure it's less the reduced wildlife and more the efficient food production of / for humans. Modern agriculture is crazy efficient compared to grazing, foraging and such - in forests, where the relatively "unproductive" trees get most of the light.
Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
60 megatons. Study mentions that the 12 megatons of ants are equivalent to 20% of the total human mass.
No, 600 megatons (~E12 kg) is closer. There are E10 humans and we weigh E2 kg. More precisely: 6E1 kg * 8E9 = 5.6E11
Numbers are to be considered about dehydrated mass, again according to the study.
Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)
#5020 quadrillion. That's 20 million billion. So given there are roughly 10 billion human beings on earth then the ants outnumber us by a factor of two million.
However, at 5 milligrams each the 2 million ants are only about a leg full.
But that leg must weigh more than a person because their total biomass of 12 megatons is "more than all the wild birds and mammals taken together".