A new study has estimated, there are about 20 quadrillion ants on the Earth at any given time.

It has seemed at times this year, a good chunk of those 20 quadrillion live right here at Torrance High.

Although this is obviously untrue, you can see them everywhere. While you are in class you can see streams of ants sometimes if you are in the right area. Most of the time you see a lot of stray ants all across the campus and classrooms. 

According to Mr. Johnson, Torrance High Site Supervisor, the ants have been appearing because of the recent heat waves. Since it was so hot, the food and water sources that the ants relied upon dried up. Now the ants are coming into the school to look for new sources to eat and drink. This happens every year when the temperatures change. Because of the drought this year, however, the problem is even worse, with ants having even less water where they would normally find it outside.  

A lot of classrooms have been struggling with the ants because they just keep on streaming in. The school also doesn’t allow the use of chemicals or pesticides to kill the ants for the safety of the students. Stated by Mr. Johnson: “because of state and federal regulations, there are only certain chemicals that can be sprayed at very specific times.” This makes it very difficult to prevent the ants from coming back.

Mr. Johnson says that one way to prevent the ants from coming into the classroom is by picking up your trash and food. This way the ants won’t swarm the area trying to eat it. Also if you do want to eat, make sure to eat whatever you want to outside of the classroom.

Mr. Johnson says finally that “the ants will soon go away when the weather starts cooling down.” Since it is starting to cool down since the heat waves, hopefully the ants will start going back to their homes and scavenge someplace else for food.