Yeah
Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 day ago
Is it the formic acid?
unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 21 hours ago
AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Depends. With North American formica ants, it’s formic acid, but with Canadian odorous house ants, it’s a methyl ketone that smells a lot like blue cheese.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 18 hours ago
smells a lot like blue cheese
Oh, so stinky feet smell?
AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Kinda? I’d almost describe it as halfway between stinky feet and the smell that stink bugs give off.
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Has to be, it’s got that same “bite” that other acids have, only a little more earthy
j5906@feddit.org 1 day ago
I cant smell ants but I can “smell” formic acid. Even diluted formic acid is so much more pungent and terrible then vinegar, so I doubt its that…
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
I went and read up on it, was going to edit in , but I’ll just do it here.
Apparently it isn’t the formic acid, it’s other chemicals, and not all ants produce them. I have smelled what they’re talking about, or at least three descriptions of one kind of ant smelling like funky cheese is something I have run into.
So you’re totally right, and my assumption was wrong.
But damn, formic acid, even dilute, really is pungent. Nose wrinkling, sneeze inducing for me.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Care to share what you read? I’m curious, too.
unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 21 hours ago
Yeah so i paid a team of experts to do my job