this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
214 points (99.5% liked)

Today I Learned

28349 readers
370 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] breakingcups@lemmy.world 52 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just stick your bare hand in this bag and grab whatever you need. Did I mention that your share are all bullet ants?

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Don't listen to this guy. Stick your hand in MY bag. There's no bullet ants in here. Just reach in, and grab the handle inside, and shake it to release the ants.

Yeah girl, shake it real hard! Just like that! Yeeeeaaaahhhhh.......

[–] semir@piefed.social 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

username checks out, wait does this work here?

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Nope. Sorry. Nobody has any idea what you're talking about. Like is the username buying something at a store or...!?

[–] Ininewcrow@piefed.ca 5 points 2 months ago

I've got a mechanical device that will shake the ants out .... I'll just crank it up to 10,000 rpm so I can get my ants fast and be on my way ..... let me just adjust the carburetor so I pull start the engine to get started .... HOLD STILL!!!

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 29 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

There are 2.27 popes per sq km in the Vatican.

[–] Una@europe.pub 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Global population per capita is 1

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

What are the odds of this? How do people deny a creator!?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I don't think the average person could defend themselves against 2.5m ants. They could overthrow us at any moment.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 2 points 2 months ago

An indefinite amount. They could come for you today. They could come for you in 43 years. You'll never know until you see the wave marching across your shoes.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

All we have to do is get them going in a circle

[–] Gaboose@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wait, really? How do I get mine?

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Star by rubbing syrup all over yourself. Then lie down in the grass. Then start squirming around. Then roll around. What was the question?

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I don't know, but I need a cigarette. Hope it was good for you, too.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

“The average person has one Fallopian tube.” ―Bo Burnham

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

And <1 ball

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I didn't get any. :( Can someone share their extras? Redistribute fallopian tubes!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

It may sound like a lot, but that’s at maximum just 12.5kg (around 27.5 pounds) of ants.

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

12.5 kg of ants is, like, a LOT of ants.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago

Well now I want ants.

[–] Ininewcrow@piefed.ca 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I remember reading once that world wide, all the ants on the planet weigh collectively more than all the elephants put together on the planet.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's actually more than the combined mass of all wild birds and mammals.

Another fun insect fact: there are more species of beetles than all of the other species combined.

[–] lena@gregtech.eu 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Where are my personal ants?

[–] Una@europe.pub 5 points 2 months ago

Mike stole them

[–] determinist@kbin.earth 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

what am I supposed to do with 2.5 million ants??

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

most of them are pretty small.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 7 points 2 months ago

Give each and every one of them housing and health care. 🖤🐜

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If you can train each one to bring you a cent you'd be a rich man!

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 3 points 2 months ago

You'd need decoy ants too. So no one can follow their trail.

[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

At an average weight of 2.5 mg per ant that's 6.25 kg of ants per person or about the weight of a 6 month old human baby.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

And I could beat the shit out of a 6 month old baby, so I think I'm fine.

[–] Hoohoo@fedia.io 4 points 2 months ago

So most of them are just living because of reckless abandonment!

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Source: https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-events/einblick/single/news/wie-viele-ameisen-gibt-es-eigentlich-1/

But how many ants are there? [...] "According to our estimates, the global ant population is 20 x 10¹⁵ – that is, 20 quadrillion animals. [...]"

Divided by 8 billion yields the 2.5 million per person.

[–] mr_account@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Anyone else have a mental image of the guy in John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness who says "pray for death" as his body falls apart into a pile of ants?

[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I hope mine are fire ants!

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 5 points 2 months ago

All ants are fire yo

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And there would be even more if it wasn't for those damned kids!

[–] SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago

Take the magnifying lens away from the kids.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 2 months ago

Alright... So what the fuck am I supposed to do with 2.5m ants?

[–] Pringles@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

But can they fuck up the environment the way we do? I don't think so

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 2 points 2 months ago

Well, on my property it’s probably 70 million ants and just me. I’m doing the real work.

load more comments
view more: next ›