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How many ants live on Earth? (2022)

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Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)

#51

Post by tracerbulletx »

whycome wrote: post #17
picafrost wrote: post #11

This number doesn't surprise me. I live within the Arctic circle and there are a lot of wood ants [0] in my area. Among the various reasons wood ants are fascinating (aphid farming, formic acid spitting/squirting) is that they live in very large mounds that can reach several feet high. Each of these mounds are estimated to have a population ranging from 100,000 to over one million and there can be dozens of them with…

Ants are aliens aren't they. Or at least we might be more likely to find antlike creatures if we do find extraterrestrial life.

Arthropods would probably think we were the aliens considering their taxonomic dominance of Earth since the beginning of the Cambrian Explosion.

Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)

#53

Post by endoblast »

wasimanitoba wrote: post #50
endoblast wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Apologies, to clarify I meant a leg full of ants per person.

Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)

#54

Post by keepamovin »

sunnyam wrote: post #23
keepamovin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly they are. So when Karl Nell says "a higher form of Non Human Intelligence" is interacting with humanity, I doubt he means ants. When Tim Gallaudet says "advanced non human intelligence" are interacting with our assets in the oceans - I doubt he means dolphins. Tho both are undoubtedly NHI. The actual "tech civilizational level" NHI are often described as insectoid. Interesting to consider that a collectivel…

I think you'd enjoy Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Thank you. I think that’s the second time someone has recommended that to me on here! I will add to my Amazon list now :)

Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)

#55

Post by dredmorbius »

jlund-molfese wrote: post #8
de107549 wrote: post #3

Pretty crazy: "That’s 12 megatons of biomass—more than all the wild birds and mammals taken together."

I’ve always found it striking that livestock and humans are 96% of mammalian biomass. That’s a lot of cows! [0] 0. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass

That's a relatively recent development. Historically humans (and their livestock) were a small fraction of all terrestrial vertebrate biomass, and IIRC tipped into the majority only in the 20th century.

It does make one think of the sustainability of that situation however.

Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)

#56

Post by minitoar »

darkwater wrote: post #49
nathanmcrae wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Interesting. I didn’t read the study. I wonder if that favors smaller animals? Are large mammals a larger fraction water?

Re: How many ants live on Earth? (2022)

#58

Post by v3ss0n »

BurningFrog wrote: post #30
v3ss0n wrote: post #4

They are also a speciies capable of Teamwork , Farming , engineering , Forming governing system , Building sky scrapers . No other animals come close to that. What if they would be considered as Non Human Intelligence?

The ants in a colony has mostly identical DNA. So you can think of it as a single organism that has a "distributed" body. From that perspective, the individual ants correspond to cells or organs, and it becomes both less and more fantastic :)

Interesting, may be that's why they can communicate so efficiently and wouldn't mind to work hard for the greater good.
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