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Ant smell

⁨1204⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨fossilesque@mander.xyz⁩ to ⁨science_memes@mander.xyz⁩

https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/fd1e5c2f-25ef-48c7-b3a2-e8b4955d7ea9.jpeg

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Comments

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  • aeki@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Which ants? All ants?

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    • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I can smell the tiny black ants more than any other but I can smell all of them. I didn’t know this was a genetic trait until now.

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      • aeki@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        I’ve never smelled ants, but like maybe ants in Sweden don’t smell? It’s why I wanted to know which kinds.

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    • DarkCloud@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      From how far away?

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  • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I can for sure smell them but only close up, not from feet away so I’m not sure what that means for me in terms of this gene. They have a very odd musty smell which is also detectable on anything they’ve walked on recently. It’s not a very pleasant odor.

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    • inefficient_electron@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      You’re probably smelling the pheromone trails they use for navigation/communication.

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    • Lumisal@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      You can smell them feet away if it’s a pile of dead ones

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  • jaybone@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I swear if I get close enough I can hear ants. Am I crazy or is this a thing? (It’s like a high pitched buzzing or humming, like an electrical hum.)

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    • stebo02@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I’m no expert but I think you should see a doctor.

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    • Faresh@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I do hear them if they are large enough and in high enough numbers, but it isn’t a hum that I hear. I hear what I imagine are them waking or the stuff they carry.

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  • crushyerbones@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    My weird “paranormal” quirk is knowing when someone is sick by smell. My nose is usually blocked up and I can barely smell flowers but for some reason I can just tell when someone is incubating some sickness that will make them bedridden the next day.

    No idea how it works. I just smell “sick” - it’s kind of this warm earthy ground smell. I can even smell it on myself sometimes and I’ll know I need to take a day off. My theory is I can smell something off in the skin temperature.

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    • JargonWagon@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I believe cats and/or dogs can also smell “sick” as you’ve described. I remember reading about a hospital that had either a dog or a cat who would cuddle up with people the night before they passed away of their sickness or something.

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      • notaviking@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        Grim reaper’s messenger cat

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  • IzzyJ@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    This thread makes me glad Im bad with regular smells, let alone ant pheromones and shit like that. Downside is I cant tune out sounds, I always hear everything full blast

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    • Chetzemoka@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Me being a nurse makes me glad I’m bad with regular smells lol

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  • EvolvedTurtle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Some of my family can smell spiders

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    • ameancow@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      There are a lot of creatures that have very distinct smells but you never get close enough to them to notice. Reptiles make for some stanky pets even though I doubt many of you could identify a lizard terrarium smell. Many insects produce smells as defense mechanisms but you can barely smell it as a human. Grasshoppers and many beatles in particular tend to secrete nasty smelling slime when handled, a smell that follows them around, and that’s a smell I can recall clearly and sharply.

      I have a theory though that human smell has lost sensitivity because of social reasons. We used to be fantastic at chemical analysis until civilization happened and we all started using soap and telling each other that normal, every day smells are now “bad” and we need to mask them with perfumes and soaps.

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  • mihor@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I used to be able to smell spiders when I was a kid. The spider web, to be exact. It has a quite specific but not unpleasant smell to it.

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    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I’ve always wondered if that’s what arachnophobia is, you can smell or hear them when most people can’t.

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      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        I can’t smell or hear them, but I know where I’m likely to find one and can’t see it. That scares me. Lol

        I’m slowly trying to overcome my fear of spiders, but you’ll never catch me boopin’ a black window claiming it’s “friend shaped”! Lol

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  • brown567@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I started smelling them after I had Covid XD

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  • EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I have a very powerful sense of smell.

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  • systemglitch@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    It’s a very unique smell and hard to explain, but nothing on earth smells similar.

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    • DarkCloud@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      It’s probably the fromaldahyde they have as blood… If you crush them then smell the remains it’s pretty strong and specific.

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    • Anticorp@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      They smell kind of like blood and iron to me.

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  • RebekahWSD@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I can only smell them if there’s a number of them, but ‘cleaning solution’ like one said works for the scent. I also have the ‘cilantro tastes like soap’ gene, so maybe they’re connected.

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    • BlueKey@kbin.run ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I have the "cilantro tastes so that I need to throw up" gene but I don't smell ants.

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  • sirico@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Yes my queen

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  • muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Can i genetically engineer the capability? Surly crisper could do it?

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  • sajran@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    But… How do you even know you can smell ants? Why did you try it? Or can you smell them from meters away?

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    • platypus_plumba@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I can smell them like at a 1m distance. They smell bad. The first time I realized what they smell like, I took a bite of a muffin and it had ants. I tasted the muffin and another bad flavor so I looked and it had ants. From that moment I could smell them, not because I couldn’t smell them before but because now I knew what they smelled like.

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      • rdri@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        now I knew what they smelled like.

        You might be missing out on a secret quest that ends with “get addicted to ants”.

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  • HowManyNimons@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Can y’all who can’t smell ants taste ants?

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    • MutilationWave@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Yep. Never knew people could smell them until today. I asked my wife and she can smell them. But they taste very sour.

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      • HowManyNimons@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        Sour-and-soapy or just sour?

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  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Aunt smell is worse trust me

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    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Depends on the aunt.

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  • UncleBadTouch@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    i want to know how many things people had to snarf before realizing it was a tiny bug that they are smelling. how many ants were lost in noses over the years from people testing the theory?

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  • myster0n@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I can only smell them when they’re crawling in my nose

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    • axont@hexbear.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Yeah same, I’ve been trying to find less stinky ants for my morning ant snort

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  • VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I somewhat experience this with ants, but I really experience this with ladybugs. Am I the genetic freak for being able to smell ladybugs?

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    • fossilesque@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Ladybugs smell like piss.

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      • VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        Yes they do

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  • phx@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I’m pretty sure I’m in the camp of people who can smell ants.

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  • shiroininja@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    They smell like a strong chemical smell to me, like sulfur

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  • LifeOfChance@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Ants smell terrible. I also thought it was a common sense

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  • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    I feel like it might just be the types of ants but idk.

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  • Maultasche@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    So is this only for the American House Ant or also for European Carpenter Ants?

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  • baduhai@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I can smell ants, but I dont think they smell that bad. The smell is hardly ever strong enough to be unpleasant. Also, in the region of the world I live in, if you start smelling ants but don’t see them anywhere, it means it’s gonna rain.

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  • therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Lot of larping in the modern age

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  • Poogona@hexbear.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Sometimes ants can’t smell ants either and you get supercolonies

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  • HawlSera@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Ants have a scent?

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  • AeonFelis@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    They’re anteaters.

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