Ants how many in the world

If we imagine there are 10, trillion ants in the world, weighing an average of 4mg, their total weight comes to just 40bn kg. If we allow for the smaller human population at the time they wrote their book, and a slightly lower average weight, they are still a long way out. But Ratnieks believes Wilson and Hoelldobler's claim - though untrue in relation to today's world population - would have once been accurate.

We're not just increasing in population, we're increasing in fatness, so I think we've left the ants behind. Image source, Thinkstock.

How do you weigh an ant? A leafcutter ant photographed at St. Louis Zoo in Missouri. Common Name: Ants. Scientific Name: Formicidae. Type: Invertebrates. Diet: Omnivore. Group Name: Army, colony. Average Life Span: Several weeks to several years. Size: 0. Size relative to a paper clip:. This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our photo community on Instagram. Follow us on Instagram at natgeoyourshot or visit us at natgeo. Share Tweet Email.

Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. This habit ensures they do not waste time visiting the same area twice. While in other ant species worker ants are primarily responsible for gather food, Argentine queens also assist with foraging for food.

Argentine ant colonies are located in wet environments near a food source. These colonies can grow to monumental size, sometimes covering entire habitats, such as an entire garden or your whole back yard. Argentine ants do not pose a health threat, but they can contaminate food by leaving their bodily waste behind.

Teachers, are you looking for more instructive materials to share with your students? Carpenter ants get their name because they build their nests in wood. These insects can cause significant damage to your house. There are many types of carpenter ants throughout the U. Each colony is established by a single, fertilized queen. She starts her nest in a cavity in wood, where she raises her first brood of workers. She feeds them saliva and does not leave the nest or feed herself during this time.

When they are ready, those workers then get the job of gathering food to feed the next generation. Once mature, this first generation of worker ants work to increase the food supply for the colony.

The colony population grows very rapidly. A colony can eventually produce 2, or more workers. Carpenter ants do not eat the wood they remove during their nest-building activities, but deposit it outside entrances to the colony in small piles. The diet of carpenter ants includes living and dead insects, meat, fats and sugary foods of all kinds, including honeydew and nectar from plants. Carpenter ants build nests anywhere they can find water and moldy or damp wood, such as tree stumps, firewood or in the plants around your house.

These tunnels weaken the wood and potentially damage the wood that keeps the house standing. This kind of damage can be very expensive to fix. School teachers — are you interested in more ant and insect materials to share with your students? Find additional information on carpenter ants at the official NPMA website. This ant gets its name from the strong, rotten coconut-like smells it gives off when crushed and the fact that they commonly nest in or around houses.

Native to the United States, these ants are very social, living in colonies of up to , members. Typically living for several years, these ants commonly make their homes in exposed soil, under stones, logs, mulch, debris and other items.

They will also nest in wall and floor cracks. Odorous house ants do not pose a health threat, but they can contaminate food by leaving waste behind. They also apply this wonderful strength to create intricate tunnels.

One study estimates that some ant species can move a metric ton of sand every year. This single colony is the largest ever discovered.

Argentine ants have built another massive mound in California though a mere dirt pile compared to the record holder that spans miles. This species is also busy with another super-colony in Japan. There are billions of Argentine ants on the planet, and it appears that most of them belong to one of these massive groups.

Ants live longer than any other insects. This is thanks to the queens of some species, who can live for up to 30 years. A single queen will produce several daughter queens during her life, so a few generations of these insects can easily span a century. The bulldog ant is a Guinness record holder known for being the deadliest ant species on Earth.