The Smell of Ants 🐜

[Xara]

I... didn't realize ants could be smelt. I don't think I like that LOL

I've experienced ant infestations in 2 of my apartments, and I've never been able to smell them, whether they're dead or alive. I hope I never am.

 

[Yoshi155]

I’m pretty sure I can’t. I didn’t even know this was a thing before this thread.

 

[ShawnFuzz]

This may be the weirdest thread I have come across here on the forum!

If you kill an ant it leaves a scent so that other ants will know there's a threat.

I am not so sure about this, but then again, I am no entomologist. As a young man, I had this very unscientific theory that leaving the dead bodies of ants around would keep the others away, but they appeared to take the dead away and still come into my home. Maybe some ant species react to smell more than others.

Yes, and it's not good!
I smell everything. Maybe it's just overall hypersensitivity, but smells are always really strong to me. Drives me nuts when I'm the only one smelling something (like smoke coming in a window) and nobody else smells it until it gets stronger.

I squished an ant once, smelled it, and realized 'oh thats what that smell is".

This might be an interesting side thread. What are people's strongest senses? Until I got older, my eyesight was crazy good (people mistakenly think 20/20 vision is "perfect", but that is the measure for average sight). My hearing is not good when it comes to hearing people talk... I can't hear half the people I talk to, but I hear high frequency noises when nobody else does. Your sense of smell appears to be better than most, if you can smell ants, and other things before others.

Interesting topic!

 

[Rosch]

Termites, I can smell. Ants, no.

 

[skarmoury]

excuse me the WHAT of ants now
I've... never known the smell of an ant?? Other insects sure, but ants..... I don't think I've ever given it a thought

For those who can smell, do different ants have different smell?? Does a black ant smell different from a small red ant, or a big red ant, or those flying ants? I'm so curious now what is this superpower people have

(Also I'm someone with allergic rhinitis so I have impaired smell from the get-go LOL)

 

[Zerous]

excuse me the WHAT of ants now
I've... never known the smell of an ant?? Other insects sure, but ants..... I don't think I've ever given it a thought

For those who can smell, do different ants have different smell?? Does a black ant smell different from a small red ant, or a big red ant, or those flying ants? I'm so curious now what is this superpower people have

(Also I'm someone with allergic rhinitis so I have impaired smell from the get-go LOL)

LMAO for me I’m pretty sure it’s j just the dead smell but as far as I can tell they all smell pretty much the same
I also have perennial allergic rhinitis so I’m not sure how linked it is to sensitivity, I wanna do some research now though I’m curious HAH

 

[JellyBeans]

i had no idea this was a thing?? maybe i've never been around enough ants but i also don't plan on getting close enough to find out if they have a smell

 

[rocketspruggs]

I didn't know people can't smell ants???

I can smell ants, I've smelled worse, to be honest.

 

[Liz!]

I've never had the pleasure of smelling ants.

 

[Airysuit]

Is this for real lol? Sounds interesting tho.

 

[Nika]

I can;t smell them and would like to keep it that way :3

 

[LambdaDelta]

I've never thought or paid attention about if I could smell them before times they've shown up

 

[LoveGraceMarie]

I never knew they had a scent I’ll look out for it next time I see ants

 

[Aniko]

Ooh never heard of that, that's interesting though.

 

[Shawna]

I never knew ants had a scent

 

[OswinOswald]

I had no idea this was possible! But I recently learned I didn't have a fantastic sense of smell (that is, I met someone with a much better sense of smell, so now it constantly gets pointed out to me ), so I'm not surprised.