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Do all ants weigh more than all wild birds and mammals?

Biologists measure biomass in tonnes of carbon (t C): that makes animals of different water content comparable; carbon is about half of the dry mass. Schultheiss et al. (2022) evaluated 489 field studies on all continents and estimate, conservatively, about 20 quadrillion (2 × 10¹⁶) ground-dwelling ants – about 2.5 million per person. Together they hold about 12 million t of carbon. That is more than all wild birds (≈ 2 million t C) and wild mammals, including whales (≈ 7 million t C), together, and about a fifth of the biomass of all humans. The figures for birds and mammals come from Bar-On et al. (2018), whom the ant study compares itself with. All values are estimates with wide uncertainty ranges.

Data as of: Ants: PNAS 2022 (489 field studies) · wild birds and mammals: PNAS 2018

Sources: Schultheiss et al., PNAS (2022): The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth · Bar-On, Phillips & Milo, PNAS (2018): The biomass distribution on Earth

Millions, billions, trillions – they all sound the same. Here you see them side by side, to scale and with sources.

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About SeeTheScale

Understand huge numbers – with pictures instead of zeros

Millions, billions, trillions: beyond a certain size, all numbers sound the same. SeeTheScale turns them into comparisons you can picture – such as the wealth of the richest against an average household, CO₂ per person in the biggest emitting countries or the age of the universe against a human life.

Five views for every order of magnitude

Every comparison can be shown as a stack of paper or 100-unit bills, as an area on a football field, as counting in seconds or as bubbles side by side whose area matches the amount. That way you see how much bigger one thing really is.

With sources, rounded and made to share

The comparisons by the SeeTheScale team name their sources and the year of the data; values are rounded on purpose, because this is about orders of magnitude. Every graphic can be shared as a link or image. With an account you can vote on comparisons and create your own.

Frequently asked questions

What is SeeTheScale?

SeeTheScale is a free website that makes unimaginably large numbers tangible: two values are shown as stacks of bills, a football field, seconds or bubbles side by side, so the difference is visible at a glance.

Where do the numbers come from?

Every comparison by the SeeTheScale team names its sources – such as Our World in Data, Forbes, the Federal Reserve, SIPRI or the German federal budget – and the year of the data. Comparisons made by users link their own sources.

How exact are the values?

The values are rounded. What matters is the order of magnitude: whether something is ten, a thousand or a million times as large.

Can I create my own comparisons?

Yes. With a free account you create your own comparisons with sources, share them by link and vote on the comparisons of others.