Ants can carry weights of more than 100 times their own body weight. Research shows..
An award-winning photograph by a British scientist. Read the full story below.
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To a human, 500 milligrams is the size of a vitamin pill. But to an ant, it’s 100 times its body weight, making lifting it the equivalent of the average American man hoisting 19,000 pounds — with his teeth. That’s just the feat one of these humble insects was recently captured performing in an award-winning photograph by a British scientist.
Dr. Thomas Endlein from the University of Cambridge photographed an Asian weaver ant holding a 500 milligram weight in its jaws, an image named the winner of the first Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) science photo competition. Reports the Daily Telegraph:
Asian Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) can carry weights of more than 100 times their own body weight whilst upside down on a smooth surface. To do this, they have incredibly sticky pads on their feet. However, this does not stop them from running quickly across such surfaces.
via treehugger.com
