# Do ants fart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938 "2010-02-14T06:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/1 "2010-02-14T06:21:13Z")
[There are about 10^16 or 10^17](http://everything2.com/title/Number+of+Ants+in+the+world+vs.+Number+of+Leaves) ants milling about at any one time, representing from [15 to 30 % of the world’s biomass](http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may2001/989366143.En.r.html), depending on who’s counting. I can’t find the cite now, but they’re just behind krill and humans. OK, so we know about the famous contribution of methane to the atmosphere by cows and its baleful (no pun intended) effects on the ecology. Although too polite to mention, our own methane production is far more ecologically harmful, I believe. Do ants fart? Because if so, all those little puffs could add up to a lot of methane. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/2 "2010-02-14T06:24:10Z")
I think termites are a methane emitter worse than cows. If ants fart like termites, things are a lot worse. 6 Tiny Things That Have Mind-Blowing Global Impacts > **[6 Tiny Things That Have Mind-Blowing Global Impacts](https://www.cracked.com/article_18403_6-tiny-things-that-have-mind-blowing-global-impacts.html)** > > Destroy termites and destroy them now. And your lights. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/3 "2010-02-14T06:26:57Z")
Wait… So what, in order, are the top 10 biomass creatures, then? Krill Human Ants That can’t be right… can it? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/4 "2010-02-14T06:36:09Z")
Isn’t it kind of misleading to put “ants” in one category, and “humans” in another? There are tens of thousands of species of ants. A fairer comparison would be ants vs. mammals, but even then, there are three or four times as many species of ants. ---
**Author:** ![ZSPHOBIASZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b19c9b/32.png) [@ZSPHOBIASZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZSPHOBIASZ)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/5 "2010-02-14T07:38:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Isn’t it kind of misleading to put “ants” in one category, and “humans” in another? There are tens of thousands of species of ants. A fairer comparison would be ants vs. mammals, but even then, there are three or four times as many species of ants. No. There many different kinds of ants, but they are all ants. Thinking they are different is bad, people also come in different kinds, but it is ignorant of you to say they are not all people. Like all different ants are ants so if you want to compare something to all mamals remember that all kinds of ants are insects, like spiders, or slugs so you would weant to comepare insects to mammals. But more importantly krill are the most massive species. But that is only animal species, plants are more massive still. Humans are not even one of the biggest animals. I know this because people eat other animals like cows, and if there werren’t mroe cow than people than people would run out of cow pretty quickly. We still have many cows. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/6 "2010-02-14T08:03:20Z")
Ants vs. Peanuthead Okay, I accept the cahllenge. Send 'em out one by one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/7 "2010-02-14T09:07:41Z")
> [@ZSPHOBIASZ](#): > > No. There many different kinds of ants, but they are all ants. Thinking they are different is bad, people also come in different kinds, but it is ignorant of you to say they are not all people. Like all different ants are ants so if you want to compare something to all mamals remember that all kinds of ants are insects, like spiders, or slugs so you would weant to comepare insects to mammals. Dude, seriously? You call someone ignorant for something they didn’t say and then claim spiders and slugs are insects? > [@](#): > > But more importantly krill are the most massive species. But that is only animal species, plants are more massive still. Humans are not even one of the biggest animals. I know this because people eat other animals like cows, and if there werren’t mroe cow than people than people would run out of cow pretty quickly. > > We still have many cows. You should probably stick with taxonomy as your area of expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/8 "2010-02-14T13:26:06Z")
> [@ZSPHOBIASZ](#): > > […] it is ignorant of you to say they are not all people…\. Sheesh, ZS, chill. Stand back for a moment. This is a thread about ants farting, for God’s sake. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/9 "2010-02-14T13:43:18Z")
How can you deny the inherent truth of “people also come in different kinds, but it is ignorant of you to say they are not all people”? ETA: I have no idea if ants fart. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/10 "2010-02-14T13:44:16Z")
Ants belong to the order Hymenoptera, as do bees, wasps, and my fourth-grade teacher. Ants become _ants_ in family Formicidae (as do certain types of kitchen counter tops). Humans belong to family Hominidae. Would it be fair to compare biomass of the two families? If we add family Euphausiidae (krill), Bovidae (cows), and Termitidae (most termites), then cast Pesci, DiNero, and Pacino, we could make a kick-ass movie about the five families. IANAB ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/11 "2010-02-14T18:29:33Z")
The EPA doesn’t mention ants on their [methane](http://www.epa.gov/methane/sources.html#natural) page. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/12 "2010-02-14T18:43:16Z")
I’m working on it. So far I found this about red fire ants, mostly about how they excrete phosphoric acid (ant bombs?). I am sure there are interesting ramifications here: Quantification of phosphoric acid in worker [fecal droplets and larval anal liquid](http://afrsweb.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=184875) of S. invicta was performed. Phosphoric acid was trimethylsilylated using N,O Bis(trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide and the tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphate was analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Phosphoric acid made up 2.13 ’ 1.08% (mean ’ SD) of the dry weight of worker fecal droplets and 2.09 ’ 0.72% of the larval anal liquid. The rate of phosphoric acid production in workers was 0.08 ’ 0.024 ug/ant/day (mean ’ SD). Because the hindgut of red imported fire ant larva is separated from the midgut, the excretory products in larval anal liquid are primarily of metabolic origin. The presence of phosphoric acid in larval anal liquid demonstrates that red imported fire ants excrete phosphoric acid. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/13 "2010-02-14T19:44:15Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Ants vs. Peanuthead > Okay, I accept the cahllenge. Send 'em out one by one. 😃 I’m feeling cocky. Send 'em at me 20 at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/14 "2010-02-14T19:52:26Z")
An ant has a stomach, intestines, and an anus. That’s close enough to human physiology that I’d say that if any gas comes out the anus, it can be called a fart. I suspect it does. [http://www.antblog.co.uk/observations/antdigestivesystem.htm](http://www.antblog.co.uk/observations/antdigestivesystem.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/15 "2010-02-14T19:55:48Z")
Mine sure does. And my uncle hates it. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/16 "2010-02-14T21:51:53Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > [There are about 10^16 or 10^17](http://everything2.com/title/Number+of+Ants+in+the+world+vs.+Number+of+Leaves) ants milling about at any one time, representing from [15 to 30 % of the world’s biomass](http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may2001/989366143.En.r.html), depending on who’s counting. I can’t find the cite now, but they’re just behind krill and humans. My first thought when I saw this was, “that can’t be right.” The total mass of trees alone would have to be far more massive than all those ants. Then I realized that you just need to read your own citations just a little more carefully. The second link above does _not_ say that ants are “15 to 30% of the world’s biomass.” It says that ants _and termites_ comprise “up to 1/3 (33%) of the _terrestrial animal biomass_.” So we’re not counting krill, plankton, trees, fungi, and so forth. As for the cattle mentioned later, the total biomass of cattle exceeds that of humans, but the total number of living humans exceeds the total number of living cattle (cows weigh more than people). ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/17 "2010-02-14T22:45:53Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Mine sure does. > And my uncle hates it. hah. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/18 "2010-02-14T22:47:36Z")
As I understand it, cows (and possibly other ruminants?) produce a disproportionate amount of methane due to their unique intestinal flora. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/19 "2010-02-15T07:49:44Z")
I don’t know if ants fart, but the [bombardier beetle’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_beetle) farts can [drop ants like flies.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pib9qT-pccI&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938/20 "2010-02-15T09:51:28Z")
As a kid, I can remember using a magnifying glass to light ant farts…but only on college-aged ants. However, it would be interesting to know what an ant fart smells like - so, in an effort to fight ignorance, I promise that this summer I will get a bunch of ants drunk on beer and baked beans - then pull out a straw, bend down and stick that straw in my nose and inhale. I’ll get back to you. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ants-fart/528938.md?page=2)