Hello ,

It is well known that ants are some of the strongest creatures on earth if we compare strength in relation to body size. This week I have witnessed various ways in which ants are much stronger than what we think.

We know that ants are capable of lifting weights of between 10 and 50 times above their head and move around with it without a problem. This is an astonishing feat on its own. It would be like an average human lifting 850-4’500kg above their head and walking around!

Where things get even more interesting is if we look at the neck strength of ants. A study showed that an ant’s neck can hold up to five thousand times the ants body weight before the head would be pulled off. Our average human would then be able to hold onto 425 tons, that is eight adult blue whales, or 5000 average people! That is a whole stadium full of people!

Have you ever sat and watched an ant move an insane big piece of food or something? This week I observed one of my larger ant species, Streblognathus peetersii, move a bottle cap that was overfilled with some superfood. The bottle cap easily weighs more than 20 times the ant and it doesn’t have any comfortable gripping point or shape that allows it to be picked up. The ant, however, was determined to get it into the nest. It kept on trying to get a grip, until it managed a grip that worked well enough to pull the bottle cap. Luckily the hole the ant wanted to use to pull it into the nest was too small for the bottle cap to fit through. This explains what happened to the last 10 bottle caps I gave them that went missing.

I also witnessed the Big Headed Ant colony (Pheidole sp.) that I told you about last week (Read the newsletter here), pulling a piece of super worm up against the glass and into their enclosure. This was insane. The piece of super worm weighed much more than all the ants together, but they managed to pull it up and into the nest. Don’t worry, I have since returned to all the satellite nests to the main colony and doubled-up on the escape prevention for the ants.

The Ring Bum Millipede munchers (Plectroctena mandibularis) have dug up their entire enclosure and rebuilt it into, well, a mess. I had soil at the bottom mixed with some plaster that was left to dry out completely and to become rock solid, but that didn’t help at all, they broke it apart and removed the entire layer. This means that they have immense jaw strength which can break apart plaster and other strong materials.

Have you ever thought about an ant’s strength, other than how much weight it can pick up or pull around? Have you ever seen ants exhibit any of their less known strengths?

If you would like to send me a message with your answers, feel free to do so on Instagram @abugmanslife or via email to [email protected].

Weekly Top Shot: An Ants Strength

A Garden Fierce Ant (Tetramorum sericeiventre) effortlessly picking up a stone that is larger than itself!