This. And to add my own expansion to this, the number of ants studied by humans is effectively zero.
First, out of all the ant biomass, humans have only seen a very, very tiny amount. Ants are so numerous, and so ubiquitous, Google claims 10 billion billion. Yet this number seems incredibly low, for apparently (wikipedia) some ant colonies have 100s of millions of workers.
Regardless, as a human, can you imagine trying to visit each ant colony? How about if you lived just as long as an ant, or thereabouts? Say, a few years?
How about ant colonies which appear, die off? And how about the fact that ants have been around since the dinosaurs, and our modern civilisation has been around for a few hundred?
And how about if you are a researcher? Let's say you stand back, and watch the ants. Do the ants even notice? Especially the main colony?
Or are you looking at a few out of endless numbers? What do they report when they get back. Do you even need to be near the ant colony to watching them?
And after you've looked at 100 ant colonies, do you need to look at another 1000? Million? We keep discovering subtle branches of insects, so why would a.. I dunno, being comprised of energy, find different (after the first 1000) in a species with a bunch of meaty limbs?
You just made me feel a little sorry for all those millions of ants who get back to their colonies and get ostracized for wild stories of giant aliens stomping on their brothers and lighting them on fire with concentrated beams of light.
On the bright side, their version of "Ancient Aliens" is probably a lot more factual and based in reality.
First, out of all the ant biomass, humans have only seen a very, very tiny amount. Ants are so numerous, and so ubiquitous, Google claims 10 billion billion. Yet this number seems incredibly low, for apparently (wikipedia) some ant colonies have 100s of millions of workers.
Regardless, as a human, can you imagine trying to visit each ant colony? How about if you lived just as long as an ant, or thereabouts? Say, a few years?
How about ant colonies which appear, die off? And how about the fact that ants have been around since the dinosaurs, and our modern civilisation has been around for a few hundred?
And how about if you are a researcher? Let's say you stand back, and watch the ants. Do the ants even notice? Especially the main colony?
Or are you looking at a few out of endless numbers? What do they report when they get back. Do you even need to be near the ant colony to watching them?
And after you've looked at 100 ant colonies, do you need to look at another 1000? Million? We keep discovering subtle branches of insects, so why would a.. I dunno, being comprised of energy, find different (after the first 1000) in a species with a bunch of meaty limbs?