Why can some people smell ants?

[Eldorado]

A recent TikTok spurred an unusual debate across social media: Do ants smell bad?

The video that started the debate began innocently enough. The creator simply asked whether other people can smell the disgusting scent of dead ants on the sidewalk.

In comments and replies, many agreed that they could, while others—a far larger number of people, it seems—had no idea that ants gave off a scent, even vehemently denying the idea.

If you’re in the group that doesn’t know what ants smell like, chances are you just haven’t paid enough attention to some of your tiniest local residents.

Full article at Popular Science: Link

[Orphalesion]

I know termites smell awful, but I haven't really noticed any scent to ants.

[acute]

Quote

The name p***ant arises from the urine-like odour produced by their nesting material—needles and straw from pine trees—and the formic acid that constitutes their venom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/p***ant

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by acute

[SHaYap]

It depends on what kind of ants and what they've been dissecting ...

~

[Mirzam]

A lot of insects release certain chemicals that cause their fellow insects to behave a certain way. I don't remember the name of the chemical, but I remember reading that it is similar to humans and pheromones.

When an ant dies, another ant from the colony can pick up on the scent to find their dead colony member and bring their body back in to the colony. Ants are strong relative to their size, but i've seen a few ants at a time do it before.

Cats have chemicals in their poop that allow the owner to become more attached to them when they clean the litter box 

Edited November 24, 2020 by smanthaonvaca