stassen@spp2.UUCP (Chris Stassen) (03/05/86)
In article <1037@psivax.UUCP> friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen) writes: >> > There is really little doubt about it. There may be species of >termites with more *individuals* than humans, and some species may >have more biomass in a *restricted* geographic area than humans have >in the *same* area, but on a global scale there is no way any termite >species could exceed humans in biomass. The only species I can think >of that *might* exceed humans in biomass is the domestic cow! > Sarima (Stanley Friesen) From the companion volume for PBS's series "Planet Earth": "Zimmerman estimates that there are 200 quadrillion termites in this world, three quarters of a ton of termites -- living mostly in the tropics -- for every human being on Earth." [p. 139]. Perhaps not a single species, but termites as a whole may have us outclassed by about 10:1. Also on page 139, "... there are 17 cows per human being on the planet (up 50% in the past few decades)." I don't know how much cows weigh, but they must have nearly 30 times our biomass. At any rate, it still doesn't discount our success. Man exists in more environments on this planet than any other complex animal (e.g. not counting bacteria, etc.), and certainly claims his share of the biomass (both in what we are, and in that we raise for our use [cows, for example]). -- Chris