"How Many Ants Are There on Earth? You’re Going to Need More Zeros. There are 20 quadrillion ants worldwide, according to a new census, or
2.5 million for every living human. There are probably even more than
that."
So I got to wondering how that stacks up? What if it came down
to a real fight? They sort of have an answer:
"Dr. Schultheiss and colleagues have a new ant census count: 20
quadrillion — 20 with 15 zeros following it. Ants outnumber humans
at least 2.5 million to 1. Ant biomass is around 20 percent of human biomass, or the mass of carbon from the nearly 8 billion humans now
living on Earth. The ant biomass also weighs around 12 megatons, which
is about the equivalent of two Pyramids of Giza on a scale."
OK, so that's just the carbon and we're mostly water, but this
gives you some idea of what we could be up against. Except that it
gets worse:
"The true number of ants is almost certainly higher than 20
quadrillion because the new calculations only included a conservative estimate for arboreal ants and excluded subterranean ants altogether,
Dr. Schultheiss said. There were also fewer studies with the necessary methods from some parts of the world, such as central Africa and
regions in Southeast Asia, while regions like North America and Europe
had more studies. As more research is carried out in geographic areas
with ant gaps, as well as in treetops and soils, the ant count will grow.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually turns out to be an order
of magnitude higher,†said Sabine Nooten, an ecologist at the University of Hong Kong and a co-author of the study. “We’re just
scratching the surface.â€"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/science/ants-census-20-quadrillion.html
When you consider that, pound for pound, they're stronger than
us, if it came to a real fight, we could be in trouble.
"How Many Ants Are There on Earth? You’re Going to Need More Zeros.
There are 20 quadrillion ants worldwide, according to a new census, or
2.5 million for every living human. There are probably even more than that."
So I got to wondering how that stacks up? What if it came down to
a real fight? They sort of have an answer:
"Dr. Schultheiss and colleagues have a new ant census count: 20
quadrillion — 20 with 15 zeros following it. Ants outnumber humans at
least 2.5 million to 1. Ant biomass is around 20 percent of human
biomass, or the mass of carbon from the nearly 8 billion humans now
living on Earth. The ant biomass also weighs around 12 megatons, which
is about the equivalent of two Pyramids of Giza on a scale."
OK, so that's just the carbon and we're mostly water, but this
gives you some idea of what we could be up against. Except that it gets worse:
"The true number of ants is almost certainly higher than 20 quadrillion because the new calculations only included a conservative estimate for arboreal ants and excluded subterranean ants altogether, Dr. Schultheiss said. There were also fewer studies with the necessary methods from some parts of the world, such as central Africa and regions in Southeast
Asia, while regions like North America and Europe had more studies. As
more research is carried out in geographic areas with ant gaps, as well
as in treetops and soils, the ant count will grow.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually turns out to be an order of magnitude higher,” said Sabine Nooten, an ecologist at the University of Hong Kong and a co-author of the study. “We’re just scratching the surface.”"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/science/ants-census-20-quadrillion.html
When you consider that, pound for pound, they're stronger than us,
if it came to a real fight, we could be in trouble.
TB
Technobarbarian<technobarbarian-ztopzpam@gmail.com> wrote:
"How Many Ants Are There on Earth? You’re Going to Need More Zeros. >> There are 20 quadrillion ants worldwide, according to a new census, orIn keeping with the triviality of most of your posts, you regale us with
2.5 million for every living human. There are probably even more than that." >>
So I got to wondering how that stacks up? What if it came down to
a real fight? They sort of have an answer:
"Dr. Schultheiss and colleagues have a new ant census count: 20
quadrillion — 20 with 15 zeros following it. Ants outnumber humans at >> least 2.5 million to 1. Ant biomass is around 20 percent of human
biomass, or the mass of carbon from the nearly 8 billion humans now
living on Earth. The ant biomass also weighs around 12 megatons, which
is about the equivalent of two Pyramids of Giza on a scale."
OK, so that's just the carbon and we're mostly water, but this
gives you some idea of what we could be up against. Except that it gets
worse:
"The true number of ants is almost certainly higher than 20 quadrillion
because the new calculations only included a conservative estimate for
arboreal ants and excluded subterranean ants altogether, Dr. Schultheiss
said. There were also fewer studies with the necessary methods from some
parts of the world, such as central Africa and regions in Southeast
Asia, while regions like North America and Europe had more studies. As
more research is carried out in geographic areas with ant gaps, as well
as in treetops and soils, the ant count will grow.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually turns out to be an order of
magnitude higher,†said Sabine Nooten, an ecologist at the University of
Hong Kong and a co-author of the study. “We’re just scratching the
surface.â€"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/science/ants-census-20-quadrillion.html >>
When you consider that, pound for pound, they're stronger than us,
if it came to a real fight, we could be in trouble.
TB
this bit of useless information.
-- Are all liberals nut jobs or are all nut jobs liberals?
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