{"id":2261,"date":"2022-01-09T18:01:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T10:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/?p=2261"},"modified":"2023-09-19T20:13:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T12:13:09","slug":"are-ants-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/are-ants-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Ants Strong? The Secret To Their Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Yes, ants are strong. They can carry objects significantly larger and heavier than themselves. In fact, if we consider size and body weight, then ants are even stronger than us humans.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article we&#8217;ll learn more about ant strength as we discuss the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>How strong are ants<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why are ants strong?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If ants are stronger than humans<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How much weight ants can lift<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If ants are the strongest insects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/are-ants-strong-b-1024x536.jpg\" alt=\"are ants strong\" class=\"wp-image-3302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/are-ants-strong-b-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/are-ants-strong-b-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/are-ants-strong-b-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/are-ants-strong-b.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Bodybuilder_Ant.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Vighnesh Nandavar<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_64 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/are-ants-strong\/#How_Strong_Are_Ants\" title=\"How Strong Are Ants?\">How Strong Are Ants?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/are-ants-strong\/#Why_Are_Ants_So_Strong\" title=\"Why Are Ants So Strong?\">Why Are Ants So Strong?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/are-ants-strong\/#Are_Ants_Stronger_than_Humans\" title=\"Are Ants Stronger than Humans?\">Are Ants Stronger than Humans?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/are-ants-strong\/#How_Much_Can_Ants_Lift\" title=\"How Much Can Ants Lift?\">How Much Can Ants Lift?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/are-ants-strong\/#Are_Ants_the_Strongest_Insects\" title=\"Are Ants the Strongest Insects?\">Are Ants the Strongest Insects?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/are-ants-strong\/#Summary\" title=\"Summary\">Summary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Strong_Are_Ants\"><\/span>How Strong Are Ants?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ants are widely recognized as impressive creatures due to their remarkable strength. They&#8217;re capable of carrying objects larger and heavier than their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most ant species can <strong>carry more than 10 times their own body weight<\/strong>. Some stronger species are even capable of carrying 50 times or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, an Asian weaver ant was photographed carrying a 500 mg (0.02oz) weight with its jaws. That&#8217;s about 100 times its own weight. That&#8217;s equivalent to an average man carrying 2 elephants. What&#8217;s more impressive though is that it did so while hanging upside down on a glass surface. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/article\/2010-02\/load-bearing-ant-carries-100-times-its-body-weight-well-photo-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/article\/2010-02\/load-bearing-ant-carries-100-times-its-body-weight-well-photo-competition\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ants are also able to withstand immense amounts of pressure. Research has found that the neck joint of American field ants can <strong>withstand pressures up to 5,000 times the ant&#8217;s weight<\/strong>. While this doesn&#8217;t indicate how much ants can lift, it does show how strong their bodies are. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0021929013005459\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0021929013005459\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Are_Ants_So_Strong\"><\/span>Why Are Ants So Strong?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/do-ants-have-muscles-2-1024x536.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2938\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/do-ants-have-muscles-2-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/do-ants-have-muscles-2-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/do-ants-have-muscles-2-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/do-ants-have-muscles-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Leafcutter_ants.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Geoff Gallice from Gainesville, FL, USA<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">CC BY 2.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While it may seem counter-intuitive, ants are also strong because they&#8217;re small. This is because of scaling or size-strength allometry. [<a href=\"https:\/\/courses.cs.vt.edu\/cs2104\/Spring18Onufriev\/LectureNotes\/ScalingLaws.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/courses.cs.vt.edu\/cs2104\/Spring18Onufriev\/LectureNotes\/ScalingLaws.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To understand this, keep the following in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Strength.<\/strong> Muscle strength is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the muscle. This area is a two-dimensional measurement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Size.<\/strong> On the other hand, size is related to volume, a three-dimensional or cubic measurement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Weight. <\/strong>If density is constant, then weight becomes proportional to volume. Meaning the higher the volume, the heavier an object.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Since strength and size are measurements of different dimensions, they&#8217;ll <strong>scale differently.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Per scaling laws, strength scales in proportion to the law <em>A(area) \u221d l2<\/em>, where l is the length scale. If the shape is unchanged, then the area of an object will scale in proportion to the square of the length scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, size scales in proportion to the law <em>V(volume) \u221d l3<\/em>. This states that volume scales in proportion to the cube of the length scale instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So should an object\u2019s length be halved, its muscles would have \u00bc of their normal strength. However, its weight and size would be \u215b of normal. <strong>This ratio means that as something gets smaller and lighter, they get stronger.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To sum it all up, ants are able to exert greater force relative to their weight because they&#8217;re small.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Are_Ants_Stronger_than_Humans\"><\/span>Are Ants Stronger than Humans?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ants are not stronger than humans when it comes to absolute strength.<\/strong> It&#8217;s impossible, for example, for an ant to carry something we consider light like a spoon or a fork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, <strong>in terms of relative strength then ants have us beat<\/strong>. Again, some ants can carry more than 50 times their body weight. That\u2019s just impossible for humans. The average human will already struggle in lifting twice their body weight. Even the world\u2019s strongest man was only capable of carrying around 2.5 times. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.guinnessworldrecords.com\/world-records\/heaviest-deadlift\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.guinnessworldrecords.com\/world-records\/heaviest-deadlift\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Much_Can_Ants_Lift\"><\/span>How Much Can Ants Lift?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It varies from species to species. Ants can generally lift around ten times their own body weight while some can carry more than fifty. Given that ants may weigh around 1 to 5 mg, this means that they can <strong>carry objects weighing 10 to 250 mg or more<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Are_Ants_the_Strongest_Insects\"><\/span>Are Ants the Strongest Insects?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rhino-beetle-1024x536.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rhino-beetle-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rhino-beetle-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rhino-beetle-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rhino-beetle.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Xylotrupes_socrates_(Siamese_rhinoceros_beetle).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Basile Morin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ants are not the strongest insects. Some <strong>beetles like goliath and rhinoceros beetles are way stronger.<\/strong> These beetles can carry around 850 times their body weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Summary\"><\/span>Summary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To summarize, ants are strong. While they can&#8217;t lift many of the things we humans can, they\u2019re considered to be one of the strongest animals. In fact, when it comes to relative strength they&#8217;re stronger than us humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On average ants can carry more than 10 times their own body weight. We humans, however, struggle to carry 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, ants are strong. They can carry objects significantly larger and heavier than themselves. In fact, if we consider size and body weight, then ants are even stronger than us humans. In this article we&#8217;ll learn more about ant strength as we discuss the following: How Strong Are Ants? Ants are widely recognized as impressive&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3742,"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions\/3742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifaqs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}