January 19, 2026
Ants: nature’s endless snack bar
Mammals have evolved into ant eaters 12 times since the dinosaur age,study finds
Nature made anteaters 12 times—cue jokes, crab memes, and biomass beef
TLDR: A new study says mammals evolved specialized ant-eating at least 12 different times since dinosaurs. Commenters cracked jokes, argued about how massive ant biomass really is, and compared it to the “everything becomes crabs” meme—basically, when the buffet expands, evolution keeps inventing new ways to eat it.
Scientists say mammals independently became specialist ant-and-termite munchers at least 12 times since the dinosaur wipeout, and the comments immediately turned into a comedy club and a science fair. One user dropped a The Onion headline—“Expert Wasted Entire Life Studying Anteaters”—while another quoted Mitch Hedberg: “Ants are great if you’re really hungry and want two thousand of something.” The crab crowd showed up too, comparing this to evolution’s recurring “turn everything into crabs” vibe via carcinisation.
Then came the nerd-slap fight: a commenter claimed ant biomass rivals huge chunks of livestock, sparking calculator wars and “source please” replies. The science fans rallied, pointing out that after dinosaurs vanished, ant and termite colonies exploded, eventually becoming a reliable year-round buffet—so of course evolution kept building animal vacuum cleaners with sticky tongues, power claws, and almost no teeth. Cue shoutouts to anteaters, pangolins, aardvarks, and even the numbat that supposedly hoovers ~20,000 termites a day, while an aardwolf hits ~300,000 nightly.
The mood: half meme, half marvel. Some call it “obvious—follow the food,” others savor the drama over numbers. And yes, veterans rolled in with “we saw this before” receipts: previous thread.
Key Points
- •Mammals evolved obligate ant- and termite-eating (myrmecophagy) at least 12 times since ~66 million years ago.
- •Researchers compiled dietary data for 4,099 mammal species from ~600 sources to classify diets and analyze evolution.
- •Only about 20 mammal species are true obligate myrmecophages; over 200 eat ants/termites to some extent.
- •Ant and termite abundance rose from <1% of insects in the Cretaceous to ~35% by the Miocene, now exceeding wild mammal biomass.
- •Traits like long sticky tongues, specialized claws/stomachs, and reduced teeth enable high-volume insect consumption (e.g., numbat ~20,000/day, aardwolf ~300,000/night).