How many ants live on Earth?

Re:How many ants live on Earth? by endoblast on Monday February 03, 2025 @10:00AM (#42918819)

20 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.

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Re:How many ants live on Earth? by endoblast on Monday February 03, 2025 @02:18PM (#42921710)

However, at 5 milligrams each the 2 million ants are only about a leg full.

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Re:How many ants live on Earth? by wasimanitoba on Monday February 03, 2025 @04:48PM (#42923685)

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".

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Re:How many ants live on Earth? by endoblast on Monday February 03, 2025 @05:37PM (#42924310)

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

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