Posted 02.23.2010 at 7:05 pm
6 Comments
The Asian Weaver Ant
100 times its body weight, not even breaking a sweat.
University of Cambridge
There’s not a whole lot to we can say to preface this photo except yes, it is real. The image of the tiny Asian weaver ant clinging upside-down to a smooth surface holding a 500 mg weight – that’s 100 times its body weight – captured first prize in the first Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) science photo competition, and with good cause; not only is it an amazing close-up of a tiny creature, but it captures some pretty amazing biology as well.
The weaver ants’ feet sport tiny wet pads that take advantage of the same properties of surface tension that cause wet microscope slides to stick together, allowing them to scale even the smoothest surfaces. But the real biological trick is in the ants’ control of surface area; when their load is light, they can fold up their feet to decrease surface contact, reducing their adhesion and allowing them to move freely. But when hauling a heavy payload like the ant above, they can unfurl those feet to lay down a lot of surface tension, creating a body-weight-to-payload ratio that is pretty incredible.
While the static image above is the award-winner, the video below captures these sticky little workhorses in action.
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While clearly not equal to the strength to weight ratio of the rhino beetle for instance, the fact this little ant can cling upside down to a smooth surface while holding 100x its own weight is pretty incredible.
Oohing and aahing over the fact that this ant can do this is kind of missing the point. These abilities are not that surprising considering the way physics scales to something that small. It's like being really impressed that a human can beat an ant in a fight. Well, yeah -- it's a lot bigger. And an ant is proportionally stronger -- because it's a lot smaller. Endlein says it's so amazing that insects can do this, but arachnids can do pretty similar things because they're the same size.
Do like Cambridge's video intro, though.
It's not strictly gawking at the ability, it's that they captured it in a clear close up. It's really a great photo.
This is such a great photo. I wonder how got this picture
great article. continue to here for more information workout routines
How cool would it be to have the strength of an ant? Not sure if any of the workout routines at http://www.fitclick.com/workout_routine would give you that kind of strength, but it would be fun trying!