How many times do you think an ant has killed a person?
2026-04-22 02:24 UTC
Replies (23)
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@bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-04-22 05:05
I'm not 100% sure, but my Aunt Carly probably killed her ex on holiday in 2014. They were engaged and she came back alone afterwards, and no one ever heard from the boyfriend and she refuses to talk about it to this day.
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@Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 02:28
I'm really leaning toward zero, but I could see someone overreacting to the presence of the ant and hurting themselves in the process.
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@TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2026-04-22 03:46
As others have already said, it’s probably very low or even zero. However, if we allow a chain of events to count, then that number should go up. In that case, you could say that an ant was among the many factors that contributed to the death of a human. Let’s say you’re tired, driving in the middle of the night, it’s raining sleet, your car has worn-out summer tyres, etc. It’s a recipe for a disaster already, but then you realise an ant has sneaked onboard and is now walking up your leg. You swipe it away, get distracted, and hit oncoming traffic. A truck carrying huge steel beams plows through your 1986 Nissan Micra like it’s made of thin cardboard. Did an ant kill you? Kinda, but not really.
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@Brkdncr@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 06:41
Carpenter ants can take a house down just like termites. Do that at the wrong electrical socket or load panel and it will cause a fire. I bet it’s happened a number of times.
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@Willdrick@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 17:30
Not quite killed but managed to break my 90yo aunt's hip. She went outside to take out the trash, saw an ant and decided to spray some insecticide to avoid getting ants inside, she bent over to spray, gave a step back, slipper caught on a loose floor tile and she fell down
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@uenticx@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 14:58
OP writing for the next Final Destination.
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@Kolanaki@pawb.social 2026-04-22 02:42
Like strictly a single ant or a whole colony? Because using ants as a torture and execution device was a thing. Would allergies count as poison? 🤔 There was a woman in Georgia that died after being bitten by a fire ant due to a severe allergy in 2023.
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@netvor@lemmy.world 2026-04-23 03:21
none but > Like knocking a napkin off the table that someone then slips on. Don't give them ideas!
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@tiptoes@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-22 05:03
There was a case of a fire ant colony SAVING someone’s life….. https://vocal.media/humans/joan-murray-s-miraculous-survival-the-skydiver-who-lived-through-a-14-500-foot-fall
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@xep@discuss.online 2026-04-22 11:20
Anaphylatic shock from ant bites is surely a thing.
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@Staff@piefed.world 2026-04-22 13:18
I'm thinking what are the odds of someone asking this question.
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@BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 13:05
Oh, quite a few. There's a colony that kills animals and people for their bones, then the ants basically build themselves around the bones like muscles. They act like one living creature. There's a whole documentary on it. [The Bone Snatcher](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343449/)
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@Karmanopoly@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 11:56
Someone somewhere probably tried to poison some ants and their dog ate the poison and they felt so bad they did suicide probably
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@Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-22 04:03
12. It got close to 13 but the guy survived.
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@RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2026-04-23 03:15
A sad story https://askdrnandi.com/fire-ant-bites-turn-deadly-for-toddler-with-undiagnosed-allergy-what-went-wrong/ Another woman https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9662108/ This reports 83 deaths from the surveyed group: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0091674989903199
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@smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-22 02:43
Zero. So go ahead, use an ant as a bullet to assassinate your foe, they'll rule it misadventure.
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@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2026-04-22 14:15
0
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@Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 2026-04-22 11:42
I don't know. AskLemmy.
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@Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 2026-04-22 03:39
I'm pretty sure there is some evil ant species in Australia that has killed a person or two
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@Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 03:24
........uhhhhhhhhhh, zero? I fully believe in the butterfly effect, but I'm really struggling to come up with a realistic set of events that kills a person which all originated from one ant. The closest I can come up with is an ant walking on the ground, and sn animal gets spooked. Then ???? and ???? followed by ????? which results in someone dying.
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@OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 02:54
I cant find any real life examples of everyday normal ants, but considering how many of them exist on this planet - imagine if they wanted to...
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@blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-22 08:39
Ant Hardy?
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@gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-22 05:39
I think none times