Is equal to the total weight of ants weight of humanity? – BBC Russian

Raven if the total weight of ants weight of humanity?

• 22 September 2014

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known statement that if weighed all living in a world of ants, their weight will be equal to the total weight of all living people in the world .

For the first time this suggestion was made in the book “The Way to the ants” American entomologist Edward Wilson and German biologist Bert Helldoblera, which was published in 1994.

The authors based their assessment on earlier calculations British entomologist Charles B. Williams, who believed that the world has 1 million trillion insects.

“If we assume that the ants are only 1% of the total number of insects, their population is 10 thousand trillion individuals – wrote in his book, Wilson and Helldobler. – The average weight of worker ant, depending on the species, is 1-5 mg. If you add them all together, it turns out that all the ants of the world weigh about as much as the whole of humanity “.

This calculation is based on the idea that the average person weighs a million times more than the average ant. Is it really? The average weight of a person is 62 kg, which means that the average ant must weigh about 62 mg.

The average ant

“Indeed, there are ants that weigh about 60 mg, but it is rare – says entomologist Francis Ratnieks of Sussex University. – Ordinary ants living in British gardens, weigh 1-2 mg “.

In fact, no one knows, What is the total number of ants in the world. Even calculations Wilson and Helldoblera inaccurate. At the moment in the world lives of 7.2 billion people. If you take only adults over 15 years, their overall weight will be about 332 billion kg. If we agree that in the world there are 10 thousand trillion ants, each of which weighs about 4 mg, their total weight will be only 40 billion kg.

But Professor Rantnieks believes that Wilson and Helldoblera calculations, although wrong these days, not so long ago to reflect reality.

“A total of 2 thousand years ago, ants overtaken by weight of humanity, but around the end of the XVIII century, since gaining independence America, mankind began to grow rapidly and surpassed by weight of ants “.

” It should also be remembered not only that people are becoming more and more, but the fact that they are getting fatter, so do not be surprised that we have left behind the ants “- says British entomologist.