After all, how many ants are there on Earth? – Read what the scientists say

Counting ants on our planet is like counting grains of sand on beaches. Nevertheless, six scientists “dared” to attempt it and came up with the most complete estimate to date: There are about 20 quadrillion ants on Earth, or 20,000,000,000,000,000 (the number 20 followed by 15 zeros).

This astronomical number—between two and 20 times higher than previous estimates—corresponds to a total biomass of 12 megatons or million tons (carbon weight).

The biomass of ants is greater than all the birds and mammals of our planet combined, which are estimated to have a biomass of 2 and 7 megatons, respectively, and is about 20% of the biomass of humanity.

In fact, it should be taken into account that there are probably quite a few more ants, as the scientists necessarily based their estimate on the ants seen on the ground and not those that live mainly in the trees or in the subsoil. Also, statistics for Africa and North Asia are relatively limited.

The researchers from Germany and Hong Kongled by biologists Sabine Nuten and Patrick Schultheiss of the German Julius Maximilian University of Würstburg, who made the relevant publication in Journal of the US National Academy of Sciences (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences-PNAS), analyzed data from 489 surveys that had measured the density of ants in different parts of the world. They then made global calculations based on local data.

“Anyone who has seen ants and realized how many there are has probably finally wondered how many there are in total is a question on people’s minds“, said Schultheiss.

There are 15,700 known species and subspecies of ants, which often play a vital role in ecosystems, e.g. for the dispersal of seeds, the recycling and increased availability of nutrients through mixing and moving the soil (they move up to 13 tons of soil per hectare, i.e. per ten acres), the food they constitute for various animals, etc. On the other hand, they also have negative effects, as some invasive species can disrupt local biodiversity and cause significant damage.

Ants live almost everywhere in the world, with the exception of the polar regions. Their greatest density per square meter of land is in the tropics and subtropics. Forests and arid areas are home to most species, while ants are much rarer in areas with heavy human presence.

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