• Question: Why can ants carry more than their own bodyweight and humans can`t and why do ants cope better at doing that?

    Asked by dynamitefire to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 24 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 24 Jun 2012:

      I think most humans can lift more than their own bodyweight – try picking up a friend? (maybe ask their permission first!)

      You’re right though, most people would struggle to carry their own bodyweight for very long. In some jobs people have to carry quite a lot though. Some soldiers have to carry really big heavy packs for a very long time. There is some really interesting work going on to try to make this easier for them, including some crazy ideas like extra robotic legs than strap onto the outside of their own legs! Kind of like the suit that Ironman wears in the films!
      Like this:

      In this sort of research scientists often look at animals for inspiration, so you might notice that the robotic legs are called an “exoskeleton” which is one thing that ants have and humans don’t.

      I’m sure there are a lot of other reasons why ants are good at carrying a lot of weight, but I’m not a biologist so I don’t know them!

    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      Ants can carry up to 850 times their body weight – no other animal can! That’s actually amazing.

      Ants are able to change the shape of the pads on their feet – so they can increase the contact area to carry heavy items! Think about it, you could “carry” more if you lay down and someone put a very heavy object along you. But you wouldn’t be able to pick it up if you were standing up.

      Maybe imagine a “pile on” of people – you could be at the bottom and be OK, but wouldn’t be able to pick up the 6 people!

Comments