There is a type of ant that smells like rotten coconut when squished. Is that what they're talking about?
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Are we talking formic acid from crushed ants or just there is an ant around and they can smell it?
I smell it either way but it's stronger when they're crushed.
That's the most useless censoring of the word "Fuck" I have ever seen 😅
It looked like it was originally meant to censore word much smalller
What is this, censoring for ants!?
I can't smell it but I can feel it. I just get really itchy.
Some people can smell ants. Some people can smell Parkinson's disease.
I don't think I can smell either of those but I can smell B.O.
I'll bet you CAN taste ants though
I never knew about this. Is this the same gene which makes people like/dislike bitter foods?
Years ago at a place I worked at, food manufacturers, the R&D team did a taste workshop. 5 cups of flavours, salt, bitter, water, umami, sweet. The bitter one just tasted of water to me. They called it "bitter blind"
There’s a couple different chemical compounds that can activate your bitter receptors (caffeine for instance) but there are a few bitter chemicals like Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) or N-Propylthiouracil (PROP) that have been linked to variations in a specific gene (TAS2R38). Where I used to work we used PROP strips you’d just put on your tongue to categorize participants into tasters, non-tasters, and potential super-tasters. If it tasted like nothing, you didn’t have the genetic variant. If it tasted like bitterness, it could either be not that bad or, for example in my experience, it’s really really terrible and takes some effort to remove from the tongue.
Probably makes you easier to poison. I will keep that in mind.
I can smell ants and it's a pretty weird smell, but I don't get any of the bitter food problems that some people have with certain vegetables.
With the exception of mushrooms. For some reason mushrooms spark that same sensitivity to ant scents, it's a similar sickly scent and makes me think of decay and loamy undergrowth and is very unappetizing so I've never enjoyed mushrooms.
decay and loamy undergrowth
That's about the closest descriptor I can think of as well. Ants are more metallic to my scent than mushies but that’s it.
I tried truffles once and that came closer to tasting the way ants smell than regular mushrooms. As you said, more metallic, sharper and more "alien." People seem to like truffle a lot, I guess I will save money in my life by not having that indulgence.
Whatever, keep your ant-smelling superpower, I'm not jealous. At least cilantro doesn't taste like soap to me! :P
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I think I can hear ants. People probably think I’m crazy. Like if you bend down and get your face really close to their trail. It’s like a buzzing sound. Like static on an old TV. Creepy as fuck.
You're the first person I've ever heard say you can hear buzzing sound of ants. I don't doubt you, because why would you lie about something like that, but I would like to hear more people agree they can hear this and I want to read a scientific study.
That person is a liar!! I listen to ants all the time and the only sound they make is smooth jazz.
All the ones on my block sound like Aphex Twin.
I’m also terrified of having insects inside of the house. So it’s possible this is some kind of psychological reaction (?) rather than actually hearing them? But to me it “sounds” as I describe in the above post. Maybe someone can find something more scientific, like a study, I too would be curious.
Could it just be the reflections of ambient noise you also get when you hold your ear close to any surface? The old "If you hold a seashell to your ear, you can hear the ocean" kind of thing.
Ants definitely produce sound when they walk. And why wouldn't they?
Called evolution. Yes, it's still ongoing in humans. Btw, this is one of the reasons that smaller populations have less survival chances (the other being inbreeding).
TIL I'm a mutant. X-men watch out!
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