Can Ants Carry a Human?

Despite being small, ants can lift loads thousands of times their own weight. The science behind the amazing feat is complex, and it is the surface area of the ant’s body that allows them to lift heavy objects.

The surface area of the ant’s neck is made up of a network of bumps and tubes. These tiny holes help the ant lift things by circulating oxygen around the neck. They are also used to support the ant’s head. The muscles in the neck are used for lifting objects and support the head forward.

The neck is made up of a joint that is capable of stretching at 350 times the body’s weight. This is the same force that other vertebrates use to lift their heads. The ant’s neck also has a joint-strengthening exoskeleton on the outside of the body.

When researchers glued ants’ heads to the floor of a centrifuge, they were able to measure the force necessary to deform the neck. They found that the force was approximately 68,038,855.5 milligrams. That’s roughly the weight of a 150-pound person.

The research could be applied to robots. Engineers are examining the joints of ants to see if they can be used to create a robot that lifts similar loads. They may use magnetic resonance imaging or computer simulations to determine how to scale up similar structures.

The researchers also X-rayed ants with micro-CT machines. They discovered that the ant’s head had different textures from the rest of the body.