We’ve all heard how many bee stings it takes to kill someone, but have you ever wondered how many ants would it take to kill a human? Ants are known for their strength and ability to carry objects multiple times their own weight. But how much weight could they possibly lift if they were all working together?
One of the most dangerous ants in the world is the bullet ant, which has a sting that’s said to hurt like a gunshot. A few hundred of these ants could kill a person, as the painful stings lead to shock and dehydration. While most ants aren’t deadly, even a single sting can be fatal to people with allergies to ant venom.
Despite the dangers of ants, we probably shouldn’t worry too much about an invasion from these insects. Ants outnumber every other animal species on the planet by a factor of over seven billion. It’s also believed that there are more than 14,000 different species of ant.
There’s also the fact that ants aren’t very hungry in general. They tend to ignore dead animals, and the only ants that will devour a human are Siafu driver ants (think Indiana Jones movies). However, these ants are more likely to eat you from the inside out than from the outside in, as they don’t care for big mammals like humans.
The good news is that you can use a natural ant repellent to prevent an ant infestation around your home. Combine lemon eucalyptus oil with water and spray the mixture where ants typically enter your house. You can also saturate cotton balls with the undiluted essential oil and place them around the house.
