Having an ant infestation in your house is a pain in the neck. But next time it happens to you, I'd suggest backing off and giving them their space. They have the numbers, after all:
Yeah, that's a real study from Hong Kong University.
Check it out:
[H]ow many [ants] are there? What is their total weight? What is their percentage relative to other organisms, including us, humans? What about the distribution of ant abundance around the globe? Is it homogenous, or does it fluctuate between different biomes or habitats, like some regions of the world host more species than others? Ultimately, can we thus observe areas where ant abundance is especially high, with potential implications for other organisms as well?
Previous estimates, including one from famous biologists Bert Hölldobler and Ed Wilson, had ranged from 10^15 to 10^16 individuals. These were essentially educated guesses, as a global, representative dataset was unavailable at the time. In this new study, the total number of ants on Earth is estimated to be 2 to 20 times that number. "Our estimate of the global ant population is 20 x 10^15 individuals," says co-lead author Dr Sabine NOOTEN, former Postdoctoral Fellow at SBS. "That's a 20 with 15 zeroes, which is difficult to appreciate. In terms of biomass, all the ants on Earth weigh more than all the wild birds and mammals combined, or about 20% of human biomass."
All of the scientists who have thus far been attempting to add up the total number of ants in the world be like:
We should be thankful that ants are pretty low-intelligence, docile creatures. With those numbers they could very easily...well, y'know.
Give some respect for the ants, they kinda have the upper hand!
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