HOW MANY ANTS ARE IN THE WORLD
HOW MANY ANTS ARE IN THE WORLD
There are in excess of 12,000 ant species worldwide. Ants are amazing little creatures. They have the longest lifespan in the insect world and are insanely strong being capable of lifting over 100 times their body weight.
Other than bacteria, ants outnumber all other living organisms on earth. There is estimated to be more than a mind boggling one million billion ants among the over 12000 ant species that live on earth with. In light of this numbers don’t be worried when you see a few ants in your house and be glad they all can’t gang up on humans.
It is a well known fact that ants are super strong and can carry their own body weight many times over, an ability that is very useful when hauling food back to their nest. In this regard The Asian weaver ant beats all the other species hands down. It can carry 100 times the weight of its body. It can do this even hanging upside down. To put it into perspective, it is like a person weighing 80 kgs carrying eight fully grown African elephants while hanging upside down. That is how strong this ant is.
Ants have a longer lifespan than all other insects. This can be attributed to queens of some ant species that live for about three decades. During her life one queen can produce a number of daughter queens ensuring continuity of her colony for a long time.
Ants can achieve feats that are almost impossible to imagine. Argentine ants have built the biggest documented colony along the coast of the Mediterranean sea stretching more than 6000 kilometers. Another massive nest attributed to Argentine ants is in the United States, in California. It stretches for over 900 kilometers.
The bulldog ant despite its diminutive size is tagged as the most venomous ant species on earth. It has a short three week life span. This native of Australia over and above being venomous is aptly named for being aggressive, ferocious and ready to attack at the drop of a hat. Three people have died as a result of being attacked by this ant.
Ants are unique in that, they are the only species on earth that are known to farm and ranch besides humans. Leafcutter ants, for instance, harvest leaves, chew them and temporarily store them in one of their two stomachs, regurgitate the mixture and use it to grow a fungus that the colony feeds on.
Other species raise aphids for their honeydew. This is a sugary substance produced by the aphids. The ants keep predators away from them and even clip the aphids wings to ensure they don’t fly off.
Ants don’t have lungs. They have spiracles on their bodies that they breathe through. Due to this, ant species that cannot swim are able to survive under water for a whole day. Fire ants can swim and they make rafts using their bodies to stay afloat to escape floods.
Conclusion
As fascinating as ants are you don’t want to be sharing your space with them.
