Ants – Superheroes of the Insect World

Did you know Ants are capable of lifting 50 times their body weight with their mandibles. If you had muscles like an ant, you could lift a Hyundai over your head!

To give you an idea of how strong ants are, let’s compare that to a real body builder.

At the 1968 German Power-lifting Championships, Arnold Schwarzenegger (weighing 245 pounds) dead-lifted 682 pounds – about 3x his body weight.

If an ant weight the same as Arnold, it would be able to lift 12,250 pounds!

WOW!

That’s not all. Ants hanging upside down can hold onto 100x their own body weight.

An Arnold-sized ant could hang upside down and hold on to a cement truck weighing 12 tons!

THAT’S AMAZING!

Ants have trade-agreements with other species of insects and plants. Ants act like ranchers for aphids, moving them from plant to plant in exchange for the honey-dew that the aphids secrete.

Some ant species live in plants that have natural hollows, defending pests that attack the plant in exchange for being allowed to live in the pre-built nest.

A force to be reckoned with

The ant family makes up the same amount of biomass on Earth as humans. Scientists estimate that there are 1.5 million ants for every human on the planet.

Since their rise to power during the time of the dinosaurs, ants have conquered nearly every square mile of the globe, with the exception of Antarctica, the Arctic, and a few islands.

Ant colonies are referred to in the scientific community as “Super-Organisms.” Even though the ants in the colony have different jobs, they work together to function as a single unit.

Even knowing how amazing ants are, we understand if you don’t want them in your home. See our pest control page about keeping your home ant-free.