How strong are ants?

It’s all about proportion for these tiny heavy lifters.


Asked by: Charlie Rees, Bromley

Asian weaver ants can carry 500mg – about 100 times their body weight. At their tiny scale though, carrying heavy objects is less about muscle strength and more about grip.

Ants have self-cleaning sticky pads on their feet and can vary the size of the contact patch on the ground so they aren’t overbalanced by their load, even when upside-down!

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