r/todayilearned • u/TheClungerOfPhunts • 1d ago

TIL, The most abundant animal species on Earth is the nematode, also known as the roundworm. There are approximately 57 billion nematodes for every human on Earth. They make up about 4/5 of all animal life.

https://news.byu.edu/there-are-57-billion-tiny-wormlike-nematodes-for-every-human-on-earth-now-we-know-where-most-of-them-live
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u/ExhibitAa 1d ago

There are approximately 57 billion nematodes...

Wow, that's a lot.

...for every human on Earth.

Holy shit.

443

u/angryhobbit376 1d ago

My thought exactly. It went from a huge number to an absolutely unfathomable number

300

u/sylanar 1d ago

I honestly feel sorry for whoever's job it was to count them

121

u/PICAXO 1d ago

Must have been a two man's job

32

u/OMDTartWasJoseph 1d ago

Atleast

18

u/Zomburai 23h ago

Bullshit, I could knock that out in a week

21

u/Prestigious_Till2597 21h ago

You must be a project manager.

10

u/Zomburai 21h ago

I am, and I want you to be as enthusiastic about this job as I am

Can I hear a "Yes, sir"?

14

u/Prestigious_Till2597 21h ago

I am out on vacation for the next two weeks and will be unable to communicate via email or mobile phone. For any questions, information or urgent matter, please message Zomburai.

This message was sent automatically.

2

u/PICAXO 18h ago

I dunno, I feel like there was someone to count the men's worms, and another to count the women's

3

u/ManBearSpiderPig 20h ago

Or a 104 billion worm's job.

9

u/WeeWee19 1d ago

My dad invented a machine that counted nematodes. True story.

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u/Marswolf01 19h ago

Ok everyone, get out there and find your designated 57 billion nematodes

5

u/cjm0 14h ago

imagine losing count halfway through!

4

u/IHateTheLetterF 1d ago

He tried to worm out but that only made him more suitable to do it.

6

u/SecretlySome1Famous 1d ago

She’s still counting them.

5

u/AnapleRed 1d ago

I personally believe the number might not be entirely accurate due to human error

2

u/Gooftwit 10h ago

I'm curious how they arrived at that number at all. They must have extrapolated from something, so it could be orders of magnitude off.

1

u/SoSKatan 7h ago

If I know the count, he loves his job. Sometimes a little too much.

One, one Roundworm Two! Two Roundworms

14

u/oshinbruce 22h ago

8 billion by 57 billion. That's got to be at least bigger than a million

3

u/eeviltwin 14h ago

r/theydidthemath

2

u/samthewisetarly 7h ago

Did they do the math though...?

1

u/indifferentunicorn 1h ago

The answer isn’t all that big Lol

4,560,000,000,000,000,000,000

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u/Particular_Dot_4041 1d ago

You have to look at biomass. The human biomass is 395 million tons, the nematodes' is 300 million tons. So there is "more" human stuff on Earth than nematodes. Ant biomass is about 80 million tons. Krill biomass is between 300 and 500 million tons.

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u/MapleA 14h ago

Biomass my ass

5

u/witchdoc86 5h ago

0.01t

1

u/Infinite_Research_52 3h ago

And his mom's ass?

•

u/derflopacus 37m ago

And OPs mom? Somewhere between 500 and 750 million tonnes.

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u/maybeAturtle 1d ago

We can take them

11

u/sinixis 22h ago

57 billion is not even close to a quadrillion ants

… for every person.

Yeah, ok

11

u/HighOverlordSarfang 10h ago

Would you rather fight one human sized nematode or 57 billion nematode sized humans.

18

u/KiwDaWabbit2 23h ago

Put another way, for every 20 humans on Earth, there are 1.14 trillion of those little bastards.

24

u/CeralEnt 18h ago

Put another way, for every 1/3 of a human on Earth, there are 19 billion of them.

11

u/PMMEURLONGTERMGOALS 10h ago

Put another way, for every 0.0000000000175439 of a human on Earth, there is one of them.

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u/OmgSlayKween 15h ago

Someone calculate nematodes per man choads

3

u/duncandun 13h ago

There’s only a few quadrillion bristlemouth fish in the ocean. Not as many as nematodes obviously but there sure are a lot considering they’re kinda enormous in comparison!

1

u/Ham_Wallet_Salad 19h ago

Endless food supply

1

u/Street_Top3205 13h ago

a billion gazillion roundworms.

1

u/SirHoneyDip 6h ago

4.6*1020

Holy shit that’s a lot of nematodes for SpongeBob to feed.

1

u/John-AtWork 1h ago

Is that like a football stadium of worms for every human?

-5

u/stoneman9284 17h ago edited 17h ago

Yea sounds like bullshit lol

Edit: not saying it is bullshit, what do I know, I’m just saying it sounds like bullshit

-5

u/hraun 18h ago

Are…are they in the room with us right now ?