"We estimated that 20 quadrillion average-sized ants corresponds to a dry weight or 'biomass' of approximately 12 million tonnes of carbon," the authors of the study said in a blog post.
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That means that if all the ants were taken out of the ground and dried up, they would weigh more than all the wild birds and wild mammals combined, per the study.
They would also be about as heavy as about a fifth of the dry weight of all humans on earth.
Leaf cutting ants are shown in Costa Rica.iStock / Getty Images Plus
To come up with the figure, scientists combed 489 published studies that surveyed the number of ants in a given environment.
It's unclear whether this astronomical number has remained steady or has grown over time, Schultheiss told The Post. A 2019 study found that since the 1970s up to half of the world's insects may have disappeared, Insider previously reported.
But when it comes to ants, "we have no idea," Schultheiss said.
They aerate the ground, which means water and oxygen can reach the roots of plants. They move seeds around and take them down to their tunnels, where they often sprout new plants.
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