New study reveals how many ants there are in the world

1, 2, 3, 5 ... oh darn it!

Have you ever stopped and wondered how many ants there are in the world?

Well, a group of researchers think they've worked it out!

A new study by a group of scientists from The University of Hong Kong think there are around 20 quadrillion ants living on Earth! Erm,... how many?

"According to our estimates, the global ant population is 20 x 10 (to the power of) 15 - that is, 20 quadrillion animals. That is a 20 with 15 zeros, which is hard to grasp and appreciate," said Dr Sabine Nooten, one of the co-authors of the study which appeared in the science journal PMAS.

That's 20, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 = a lot.

"All the ants on Earth weigh more than all the wild birds and mammals combined," she added.

How do you count ants?

Ants live in large organised groups called colonies

Thankfully the scientists didn't have to count them all one by one!

To tackle the enormous challenge of figuring out how many ants there are in the world, the scientists looked at around 500 different scientific studies of ants around the world.

"For decades, ant researchers have been incredibly busy studying ant communities the world over. They have collected thousands of ant samples to identify the species and often counted all the ants as well when publishing their results in scientific articles." explained Dr Patrick Schultheiss, a lead author of the new study.

From looking at all these research papers, the scientists were able to use them to help them build a more accurate estimate of the number of ants in the world.

Ants are a very important part of the world's ecosystem, moving tonnes of soil each year and spreading around nutrients and seeds for other animals to feed on - as well as being food for other animals themselves!