ANTS ARE COMMON INSECTS, BUT THEY HAVE SOME UNIQUE CAPABILITIES. - By MaddaliSwetha

The total weight of all the ants on earth is about the same as the weight of all the humans on earth. Unless you leave food out and attract them, humans rarely have a need to think about ants. They're tiny, not poisonous and not particularly terrifying, like say, spiders. However, they far outnumber humans on earth--by one million to one. Funnily enough, they are also roughly a millionth of a human in size too. 

Do the math--the total weight of all the ants on earth matches the total weight of the entire human population. Ants are common insects, but they have some unique capabilities. There are 10,000 different types of ants and they've been around for a long time. Ancients ants have been discovered in fossilized sap from 100 million years ago. Over time, ants have changed very little. Their way of life and survival is successful. Some scientists attribute this to their unselfish ways. Ants live in colonies and bring their prey back to their many relatives to share.

10 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT ANTS

1. Ants use their diminutive size to their advantage. Relative to their size, their muscles are thicker than those of larger animals or even humans.

2. Soldier ants use their heads to plug the entrances to their nests and keep intruders from gaining access.

3. Ant plants are plants with naturally occurring hollows where ants can take shelter.

4. The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is roughly equal to the total biomass of all the people on Earth.

5. Ants sometimes tend to insects of other species, like leaf hoppers.

6. A much longer evolutionary line than previously thought, leading scientists to estimate the appearance of ants on Earth as somewhere around 130 million years ago.

7. Ants started farming long before humans.

8. Some ants form "super colonies," massive communities of ants that can stretch for thousands of miles.