Ants and Beetles are SUPER STRONG,
Even compared to other animals outside insects
Like Gorillas, but even then Gorillas are nowhere near as strong as those insects when it comes to pound for pound despite having much more muscle mass
I always thought that it had something to do with the insect’s anatomy or the shape of the object they’re carrying which led me to believe they could somehow redirect the force applied to them, there’s just so many variables going on, it’s so interesting but I never got a clear answer.
In: Biology
An ant the size of an gorilla/elephant/etc would just… die. Ants are so strong for their size precisely because they are so small, and their world and interactions with it are somewhat different than our own. While there’s a lot of detail and implications to go down the rabbit hole of, the basic root of it all is the square-cube law. This is the relation that surface area increases as a square, while volume increases as a cube, so for every time you increase the size of the creature, its volume is increasing *significantly* faster than its surface area. Not every force scales with volume here, so when you have life at larger scales, certain things like water surface tension (deadly to insects, because of how strong it is and how it can literally be inescapable–drops of water are deathtraps) is not a big deal, but now you need a sturdy skeleton to keep yourself from collapsing under your own weight. Meanwhile, an ant can literally be thrown at the ground and remain unscathed.
It’s to do with the fact they are so tiny they don’t have much weight of their own to lift so have more strength to devote to the object being carried. Ants also have special “lifty” muscles meant for that job. Sorry to be so vague. I am always amazed to see a stoat lifting a rabbit too…
It all comes down to how muscles work and simple physics.
The strength of a muscle is proportionate to the *cross section area* of the muscle. I.e. how strong the muscle is depends on how big area the muscle has if you were to slice it across the middle.
This means that the strength of the muscle will grow in a squared manner, since the cross section will be a 2D geometry, like a square for example, and to calculate the area you multiply the sides.
However, the weight of the muscle is proportionate to the *volume* of the muscle. Volume means it’s a 3D geometry and will this grow in a cubically, since to calculate the volume you need to multiply three sides, instead of two.
This means that the bigger a muscle is, the relatively weaker it will be.
So, for a small insect like an ant, they will be relatively strong since the ratio between the muscle volume and cross section area is small. Basically, a small muscle weighs very little and requires less effort to carry around.
For larger animals, their relative strength will be lower since the ratio between the volume and cross section area of their muscles is much greater. This means that the bigger the muscle gets, the more strength is required to carry the muscle around.
That is why there is a physical limit to how big animals can get, as at some point the weight of the muscle will be so great that all the strength the muscle can generate is needed to just carry it around, leaving no strength for picking up other things or exert force on other objects.
you can largely thank the square cube law for that. The basic rule of this law is that as you scale an object up or down, its volume, and by extension its weight, increases or decreases faster than its surface area. In very ELI5 terms, this means smaller organisms proportionally are stronger, lighter, and more resilient to falling or getting swatted, assuming they have the same body structures.
People are the same- the best weightlifters pound for pound are smaller people.
There is a coach at my gym who is a small female who has a triple body weight deadlift. Obviously that is very strong but not “elite” for someone her size. Whereas if you’re a super heavy weight pro male strongman (think the guy who played the mountain in game of thrones) your max deadlift might only be 2.5 x bodyweight
If you want a detailed explanation search you tube for Hanna Fry, ant’s aren’t that strong.
But the gist is picture a tank motor. To move a tank you need a big motor just to move the tank let alone pulling stuff.
But a motorbike can use a smaller motor to pull itself and has some power left over.
So a 10 ton tank pulling 10 ton weight looks impressive, but it’s only 2x it’s own weight.
While a 100kg motor bike can pull a 500kg weight. Something that’s 5x it’s weight.
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