Ants Can Lift Many Times Their Body Weight: Fun Fact Friday

Okay it's Friday!  Time for a fun fact.  I have scoured the internet and come up with no "exact" answer as to how many times their body weight an ant can carry.  The general consensus seems to be that ants can lift, over their heads at least 20 times their body weight.  Of course in "ant" scale it doesn't seem super impressive...  It's kind of like "Wow, that tiny ant is dragging a section of a leaf or something...."  That doesn't seem really impressive until you put it in human terms.

• It would be like walking down the street and seeing a 200lb guy walking along carrying a small-medium sized truck over his head.
• OR to make it even more dramatic, it would be like seeing a 50lb kid walking down the road carrying a compact car.  Now that would be impressive!
• Imagine a 100lb preteen carrying a compact car in each hand, over his/her head.

An ant's ability to lift is pretty incredible.  Some sites suggest that some ants can carry up to 50 times their weight.  So just one in human terms on this one.

• Two 200lb guys could carry a small (20,000 pounds) dump truck over their heads together.

If people had that kind of ability to lift, not only would we not need tow trucks, but can you imagine where some of the sports would be?  Olympic weight lifting for one?  Even though ants can be quite the nuisance, and even structurally damaging as a pest, they are some pretty interesting creatures.

On a more serious note, if you are having a problem with these heavy load lifting pests (or any other pest for that matter), feel free to give me a call for pest control services.  We're in the thick of ant season and they are out in force this year!