# underwater ants

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underwater-ants/123417>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 11, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underwater-ants/123417 "2002-08-11T17:37:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underwater-ants/123417/1 "2002-08-11T17:37:32Z")

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I was reading a FAQ and one of the throwaway questions put in among the other questions was “How long can an ant survive underwater?” with the answer of “Two weeks”.  
The maintainer of the FAQ is unavailable, a search of Google only turns up more instances of this question and answer but no clear sources to support this statement.  
Would this, if it were true, apply to all ants? Some ants?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underwater-ants/123417/2 "2002-08-11T18:25:13Z")

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From [here](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/arthropoda/insecta/hymenoptera/formicidae.html)

> [@](#):
>
> **Some species have even been known to survive underwater for as long as fourteen days by going into an anesthetized state, in which oxygen intake decreases to twenty times below the need of the ant when asleep.**

So it would appear to apply only to some species.