BBC News: 研究人员对全球蚂蚁数进行史上最彻底的统计

Most thorough assessment to date of global population of ants
研究人员对全球蚂蚁数进行史上最彻底的统计
 
Researchers have made the most thorough assessment to date of the global population of ants — insects that have colonized almost everywhere on the planet — and the estimated total is a mind-blowing 20 quadrillion of them.
研究人员对全球蚂蚁的数量进行了迄今为止最彻底的评估，一种遍布地球上几乎所有地方的昆虫，总数令人震惊，约有2亿亿只。

The ants' biomass was higher than that of wild mammals and birds combined, and it reaches 20 percent of the human biomass.
所有蚂蚁的生物量超越野生哺乳动物和鸟类的总和，达到了人类生物量的20%。

They have thrived since the age of dinosaurs, with the oldest-known ant fossil dating back about 100 million years to the Cretaceous Period.
自恐龙时代以来，它们就一直繁衍生息，已知最古老的蚂蚁化石可以追溯到大约1亿年前的白垩纪时期。

There are more than 12,000 known species of ants, which generally are black, brown or red in color and possess bodies segmented into three parts.
已知的蚂蚁种类超过12000种，它们的颜色一般为黑色、棕色或红色，身体分为三部分。