Scientists estimate there are 20 quadrillion ants on the planet, and they play a key role in our ecosystems
There are so many ants on the planet, the human brain can barely comprehend it, says the German insect ecologist who helped calculate the number.
In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of scientists examined data from 489 ant studies and used those findings to estimate the number of the critters currently walking the Earth.
The final tally was 20 quadrillion. That’s 20 thousand million millions, or 20,000,000,000,000,000 with 16 zeroes. And it’s likely an underestimate.
“I’m stunned,” Sabine Nooten, a University of Würzburg insect ecologist and one of the lead authors of the study, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “It’s incredibly difficult to comprehend. It’s amazingly awesome as well.”
Put another way, the combined biomass of the world’s ants is greater than that of every wild bird and non-human mammal put together. And while they’re most common in tropical climates, they can be found in a variety of habitats on every continent.
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