In a war between humans and ants , who would win ?

[Tassadar]

I find something else, not me realy but them,

This article is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Carla Helfferich is a science writer at the Institute.

Read it, about terrible tree-killer ants and plant genocider:http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF10/1080.html

 

[Oruc]

humans would win unless the ants decided to reproduce on a huge level that the egosystem was destroyed and we all died

 

[Silverflame]

I can easily see Australia be taken over by the ants, specifially the bulldogs. Flamethrowers will be less effective because bulldogs are few in number. What the bulldogs lack in the way of numbers they make up for with a ton of power and speed.

 

[Tassadar]

200 000 ants per humans IS NOTHING !

It's barely HALF A HIVE PER HUMAN. 200 000 ants all together are barely the size of the chest of a human ! A human can be badly bitten by so many ants, but he would have to stay still and let him be eaten to be actually in any kind of death danger.

Army ants can't kill large vertebrates, but African driver ants can. A tethered cow is occasionally discovered, smothered in ants, asphyxiated and bleeding internally from where the insects swarmed in through its ears, mouth and nose. It will take weeks to reduce the carcass to polished bone. Cooped chickens, on the other hand, are stripped in a day or two. A few unlucky humans have died the same way, but these cases are rare, usually involving unconscious or inebriated individuals, as well as the occasional baby whose cries go unanswered in the night.

The swarm approaches like a monstrous black tide, around 15 metres wide and containing about 100,000 sterile sisters, working mutually as a single hunting unit.


Link;http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/268feature1.shtml

 

[Drewcifer]

If the ants got the bomb it would be all over. I think they would use it.

 

[Akka]

Nah, it seems that the hallucinatory dream is still stronger than common sense...

Ok Akka, you already read that even the US b-2 bomber loaded with toxin did nothing in southern USA.

This illustrate perfectly what I was talking about earlier : it's taking example of ants ready to fight a war of total annihilation, while human would continue to have their peace-time western living standard.

I wouldnt like to see 200 000 ants per human spreading formic acid everywhere, oh my god, the more i dig, the more i am scare. Perform your own search about formic acid and formaldheyde. i am done.

Yeah, because I would first remove my clothes, and then dig with my bare hands in the middle of ants, if I were to fight them
Oh, and I would purposedly put my eyes down enough so that they could aim at them...

Imagine the floor and walls covered with ants. Imagine that happening to every individual on earth.

For the third times, as it seems people have extremely selective reading :
- ants can be a threat to any human ONLY in large numbers.
- ants are extremely vulnerable to any area weapon in large numbers (a single flash of a flamethrower would clean several tens of square metres of any ants ; a single rerouting of a river would clean several square KILOMETERS of any ants).
There would be some losses for humans (go on, let's make some thousands, or even some millions, or even some tens of millions, but here we are being really good for the ants) before they understand there is a war. And then, they would perhaps wake up, and take the measures necessary, kind of not just watching ants coming, and DOING SOMETHING, while the premice of all the ants-will-win theories is that humans are some plant-like creatures that watch themselves being eaten to death without moving a fingher nor having a thought.

I can easily see Australia be taken over by the ants, specifially the bulldogs. Flamethrowers will be less effective because bulldogs are few in number. What the bulldogs lack in the way of numbers they make up for with a ton of power and speed.

Napalm the area where they are in big numbers, flood the rest. Develop rice culture, which can perfectly survive (and even require) being completely drown in water.
Ants gets killed. Your food production gets protected. Ok, there may be lots of problem, and some death, but death would be marginal or, at worst, serious for human, and crippling for ants.

Army ants can't kill large vertebrates, but African driver ants can. A tethered cow is occasionally discovered, smothered in ants, asphyxiated and bleeding internally from where the insects swarmed in through its ears, mouth and nose. It will take weeks to reduce the carcass to polished bone. Cooped chickens, on the other hand, are stripped in a day or two. A few unlucky humans have died the same way, but these cases are rare, usually involving unconscious or inebriated individuals, as well as the occasional baby whose cries go unanswered in the night.

So, basically, you are proving that ants are only a danger for a human (who, unlike a cow, actually NOTICE when he's thousands of ants climbing on him) when you are totally uncapacited. Thanks for proving my point...

 

[aneeshm]

Akka , the USA , which is the world's only superpower , has ALREADY declared a war of annihilation against fire ants , and the fire ants are winning even withour any co-ordinated strategy , in the face of US efforts to the contrary . And they are NOT EVEN TRYING to fight . Imagine this same set of ants suddenly turning hostile and having a kill-human-on-sight policy .

 

[Longasc]

OK, so Ants will wipe us out. According to some posters here at least.

Do you suggest committing suicide right now or to wait until the Ants develop their kill-human-on-sight policy?


If you are really so troubled about Killer Ants, you should start thinking how to eradicate the plague. Until then you just have the fun of developing catastrophic scenarios.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I can easily see Australia be taken over by the ants, specifially the bulldogs. Flamethrowers will be less effective because bulldogs are few in number. What the bulldogs lack in the way of numbers they make up for with a ton of power and speed.

Not TRUE

Your thinking of the deadly jack jumper ants of tasmania. These babys are not only extremely aggressive but there bites contain mild venom. For most people this is deadly.

http://www.insectstings.co.uk/fireants.html

 

[Homie]

OK, so Ants will wipe us out. According to some posters here at least.

Do you suggest committing suicide right now or to wait until the Ants develop their kill-human-on-sight policy?


If you are really so troubled about Killer Ants, you should start thinking how to eradicate the plague.QUOTE]
Haven't you paid attention? This has already been attempted by the USA, with unsuccessful results.

 

[IglooDame]

Nah, it seems that the hallucinatory dream is still stronger than common sense...

Akka, your battle vs the ant-supporters seems surprisingly similar to a human vs two-hundred-thousand ants here...

In the absolute worst-case scenario, ants would still not be able to wipe out humanity, because we can (and do) build huge ships and for that matter huge submarines that would be as difficult for ants to get to as Mars or Venus is for humans to get to. Then, you just start an island-taking campaign, one-by-one wiping out the ants on selected remote islands and chains, until you're proficient enough to tackle larger islands, then finally continents.

But as Akka said, there's just no way it could get to that, (most) humans just aren't stupid enough to sit there and take it, and there would be a certain Darwinism in the fight that would probably do more to benefit the human race than it would to hurt it.

 

[Akka]

Akka , the USA , which is the world's only superpower , has ALREADY declared a war of annihilation against fire ants , and the fire ants are winning even withour any co-ordinated strategy , in the face of US efforts to the contrary . And they are NOT EVEN TRYING to fight . Imagine this same set of ants suddenly turning hostile and having a kill-human-on-sight policy .

Ah yes, USA is actually trying to use napalm, rerouting of rivers, and military offensive with specially-trained commandos to take out ants.
Which have already killed humans by the millions, if the USA is losing, right ?


Oh, you mean there is a grand total of zero casualty for humans ?
Ah, yes, they're losing...

Again a good illustration of "ants wage genocidal war, while human wage war by standing still and waiting for ants to come and eat them".


Igloodude : not even need for spacecraft or submarine. Just the coldest part of the land. Ants are cold-blooded (in a way) animals, they can't regulate their temperature. So cold is able to disable any but the hardest races of ants.
And, as you noted, this scenario already suppose that humans in other parts of the world have been unable to figure that you have to move when there is some tens of thousands critters trying to climb your legs.

 

[CrazyScientist]

If ants launched a surprise offensive worldwide, they would kill vast numbers of humans, but I think they would still lose in that they could never get ALL of us, and it only takes a few to create a safe haven and make a comeback. It also depends how much intelligence we're ascribing to these magical hostile ants. Are they smart enough attack military installations and pesticide factories first? What if they came in the night and ate all the factory workers, pilots, and flame-thower operators. Most modern armies don't use all that many flame-throwers anymore do they? How tough is it to train to use one of those things without cooking yourself or other humans? I'm not sure I could use one safely if you just threw it into my hands. It would be serious, but I think they would still eventually lose.
Now in the other scenario, where humans and ants mutually declare a total war of annhilation, they will lose and lose badly. As Akka said, they have to bunch up to be a threat, and when they bunched up, we could destroy them by the trillions very rapidly. However, they would only lose in that they would utterly fail to destroy us or even inflict that many casualties. We could also never root them ALL out of hiding to destroy them unless we were willing to sacrifice the planet to do it. They could always sit back & wait to try again another day, when their numbers are even greater.
Does anyone else think we may have a cool/lame sci-fi movie in the works here somewhere?

 

[IglooDame]

If ants launched a surprise offensive worldwide, they would kill vast numbers of humans, but I think they would still lose in that they could never get ALL of us, and it only takes a few to create a safe haven and make a comeback. It also depends how much intelligence we're ascribing to these magical hostile ants. Are they smart enough attack military installations and pesticide factories first? What if they came in the night and ate all the factory workers, pilots, and flame-thower operators. Most modern armies don't use all that many flame-throwers anymore do they? How tough is it to train to use one of those things without cooking yourself or other humans? I'm not sure I could use one safely if you just threw it into my hands. It would be serious, but I think they would still eventually lose.
Now in the other scenario, where humans and ants mutually declare a total war of annhilation, they will lose and lose badly. As Akka said, they have to bunch up to be a threat, and when they bunched up, we could destroy them by the trillions very rapidly. However, they would only lose in that they would utterly fail to destroy us or even inflict that many casualties. We could also never root them ALL out of hiding to destroy them unless we were willing to sacrifice the planet to do it. They could always sit back & wait to try again another day, when their numbers are even greater.
Does anyone else think we may have a cool/lame sci-fi movie in the works here somewhere?

Cigarette lighter + Aerosol can of hairspray + Me = Fully trained and equipped flamethrower operator.

 

[Tassadar]

Thanks for proving my point...

Yes sure, i have destroy every single argument you got since page 2 and i am proving your point, OK

1.- I already prove that they cannot be poisoned ( read again)

2.- I already prove that you cannot flood them ( read again)

3.- I alread prove that a mere 100 000 ants can kill and eat a human beeing, while you were saying that even 200 000 is nothing.

4.- I already prove that your flame thrower will only burn your own cities and crop, Do you seriously want to burn xillion of km square, even then, you cannot burn the ones which are burried, unless you nuke everysingle km square on earth.

5.- And i am proving your point ??? come on.

Quote, by aneeshm

Akka , the USA , which is the world's only superpower , has ALREADY declared a war of annihilation against fire ants , and the fire ants are winning even withour any co-ordinated strategy , in the face of US efforts to the contrary . And they are NOT EVEN TRYING to fight . Imagine this same set of ants suddenly turning hostile and having a kill-human-on-sight policy .

This guy know the deal.

 

[Akka]

Yes sure, i have destroy every single argument you got since page 2 and i am proving your point, OK

Not really, no.

1.- I already prove that they cannot be poisoned ( read again)

I didn't even considered poison, because it's the most ineffective way to fight in such a war : it makes the ennemy more resistant, and in the end it hurts more yourself than them.

2.- I already prove that you cannot flood them ( read again)

No. You "proved" that when water rise, a very particular species of ants form big ball that float on water.
I pointed that such thing is good if you watch them and stand still, but a single human with a rock the size of his hand can make the ball explode and the ants drowning. I'm talking about a single human with a rock making the anti-flood ant technique ineffective. I dare to say we can do even better than that.
Like, as it was said on the very same paragraph about ants forming ball to survive water (and you strangely didn't noticed ) :
"If sprayed or baited with diluted enzyme cleaners they will quickly die."
Wow. What an incredible military effort to make.

3.- I alread prove that a mere 100 000 ants can kill and eat a human beeing, while you were saying that even 200 000 is nothing.

No. You proved that a human who doesn't flee, react or move, can sometime be killed if a whole hive is on him. If your idea of battling is to stand still and don't flinch while being eaten, then sure 100 000 ants are a threat. But allow me to not even start to consider such kind of strategy, will you ?

I may point that a six-years old child is also a deadly threat if I let him punch and kick me while not moving. It will take the whole day, but eventually he will hopefully land a blow in my throat or temple, and kill me. I suggest to recruit six-years old children to kick ennemies to dead, then.

4.- I already prove that your flame thrower will only burn your own cities and crop,

You proved that if people are stupid enough, they can in fact put fire to house with a flamethrower. Big deal. Here is the staggering idea : don't hand a flamethrower to anyone, and just make trained patrol with such devices. I'm pretty sure they can manage to avoid setting concrete walls afire.

Do you seriously want to burn xillion of km square, even then, you cannot burn the ones which are burried, unless you nuke everysingle km square on earth.

Well, you are saying that ants will eradicate humanity. I'm pretty sure that humanity would seriously consider to burn some big area if they are on the verge of extinction. I'm even pretty sure they would stop watching TV if they are being eaten. But then it's perhaps just a wild expectation.

5.- And i am proving your point ??? come on.

Yes, you proved with your quotes that ants are a threat to a single human IF, and ONLY IF, they're very numerous AND you're not moving or are helpless. That's not a very convincing argument that ants will be able to wage a full war against humanity and win.

Akka , the USA , which is the world's only superpower , has ALREADY declared a war of annihilation against fire ants , and the fire ants are winning even withour any co-ordinated strategy , in the face of US efforts to the contrary . And they are NOT EVEN TRYING to fight . Imagine this same set of ants suddenly turning hostile and having a kill-human-on-sight policy .

If you call it "a full war of total annihilation" to drop some insecticide on some selected areas, trying to preserve the crops, and taking good care not to disturb civilians, I can only laugh and advise you not to be a military advisor, ever, anywhere.

 

[dgfred]

1.- Can you please read on the bottle what is the chemical name. Thank.

2.- But they are not as good as lobster

1- The killer stuff is in an orange bag Spectracide- works pretty good but
you are supposed to wet it. We also use Amdro (white plastic bottle) at
our work when needed and it works good too, you don't have to wet it.

2- But chocolate taste better on ants!

 

[IglooDame]

Well, you are saying that ants will eradicate humanity. I'm pretty sure that humanity would seriously consider to burn some big area if they are on the verge of extinction. I'm even pretty sure they would stop watching TV if they are being eaten. But then it's perhaps just a wild expectation.

I know of a few people that will fall victim to the ants while watching TV, but really that would be an acceptable level of casualties in the war.

Yes, you proved with your quotes that ants are a threat to a single human IF, and ONLY IF, they're very numerous AND you're not moving or are helpless. That's not a very convincing argument that ants will be able to wage a full war against humanity and win.

If you call it "a full war of total annihilation" to drop some insecticide on some selected areas, trying to preserve the crops, and taking good care not to disturb civilians, I can only laugh and advise you not to be a military advisor, ever, anywhere.

The only thing that comes to mind is several million ants "coagulating together" or whatever it would be called, getting some heavy makeup and appropriate human clothing, and going to bars in the shape and appearance of good-looking women, and with the liberal use of rohypnol luring unsuspecting men out of the bars into the nearest alleyway where they'd pass out and be killed in some nasty ant-specific way.

 

[Tassadar]

"If sprayed or baited with diluted enzyme cleaners they will quickly die."
Wow. What an incredible military effort to make.


Yes, you proved with your quotes that ants are a threat to a single human IF, and ONLY IF, they're very numerous

If you call it "a full war of total annihilation" to drop some insecticide on some selected areas, trying to preserve the crops, and taking good care not to disturb civilians, I can only laugh and advise you not to be a military advisor, ever, anywhere.

1.- lol it is good for house cleaning against 28 ants.

2.- They are.

3.- You dont even care to read the official link i provide, ( page 2), same quote again,

Beginning in the late 1950’s, when the federal government first declared war on fire ants, stating it would attempt to wipe out S. invicta once and for all. World War II-era bombers dusted millions of acres in the South with the highly poisonous pesticides dieldrin and heptachlor. Some fire ants died, but so did birds, fish, raccoons, opossums, dogs and cattle.

And you call this some drop of insecticide????

Enough, the war is win, my ants army have crush every single tactic that you have use so far ( i am still laughing at fire can spray, yes a human torch is the result).

And i didnt even had to use my third wave attack, which were ready to dig tunnel under your cities and make them falls appart, as well as your airport and costal installation. I was expecting much more from humain brain. me smoking the cigar victory.

 

[Akka]

Hu...

Well, I guess that you should call me when you're back on Earth. Not likely soon, seems to be cool in fantasyland...

(meantime, I'll drown these ants with some shallow water and laugh madly when they form their baseball-like aggregate that my children have so much fun aiming at with their stones)

BTW : water also runs perfectly in underground tunnels. And ants aren't more amphibious underground either.