A recent study has found that there are 20 quadrillion ants on planet Earth. The total mass of all of these crawlers together equals the weight of all of the Earth's birds and mammals combined. Cheddar News explains.

A recent study has found that there are 20 quadrillion ants on planet Earth. The total mass of all of these crawlers together equals the weight of all of the Earth's birds and mammals combined.

Today Explained: How Many Ants Live on Earth?

it is time for today explain. Welcome back everyone where we break down some of the biggest stories in the news, how we got here, where we go next. Have you ever wondered exactly how many ants there are on earth? Well, even if you haven't got the answer for you, a new study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealing there are 20 quadrillion individual ants crawling around our planet. That's about 2.5 million ants For every human. In case you were wondering now to give you an idea of how huge that number is, it's equal to one trillion times 20,000. The total mass of those ants outweighs all of the world's birds and mammals combined and makes up about 1/5 of humans. Total biomass and that's a conservative estimate. People on Tiktok by the way, freaking out that ants are going to take over the world. Take a look. They have the most brain cells out of any insect. 250,000. They're the smartest insect in the world and their societies are so complex that they were used to build an algorithm for a supercomputer at NASA. Everybody always jokes, it's gonna be cockroaches that take over. But I swear to God and dance. They're as old as the dinosaurs, they've already survived one apocalypse. If we wait every human and every ant in the world, the ants would weigh more, they can survive for two weeks underwater. We're screwed. But don't worry, ants are way more helpful to our environment than they are harmful. These little guys play a central role in almost every terrestrial ecosystem, dispersing seeds, hosting organisms and serving as either predators or prey. Most of all their high abundance is what makes them ecological MVPs. There more than 15,000 known and species and sub species, with each species serving a wide range of funk. This study could help scientists understand the role these critters play in ecosystems and measure the consequences of changes to their habitat, including threats caused by climate change. So while you might be tempted to squish one of its invading, if it's invading your kitchen, try to restrain yourself, these creepy crawlers are actually very vital to our environment, and they could be in trouble in the future. As climate change takes its toll.