how can Ants and Beetles carry so much weight compared to their size

Question

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

Answer 1

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.