How Fast Ants Run
WouterBesides being incredibly fast, ants are also exceptionally strong. They can carry 10-50 times their own body weight. During sprinting, ants use an alternating tripod gait. This means that the middle leg on the right side swings forward and the front leg on the left side swings backward.
Researchers from the University of Ulm filmed ants running at top speeds, measuring the speed at 85 centimetres per second. This is the speed of a Saharan silver ant, a species that lives in the Sahara Desert in Africa.
Saharan silver ants are faster than any other species of ant, and have a number of special features, including aerodynamic body shape, stubby legs and silvery hairs. Their legs only touch the ground for about seven milliseconds, and they swing their legs at up to 1,200 millimetres per second.
The Saharan silver ant has evolved to survive in the hottest part of the day, which can reach temperatures of 60C. This is why it is capable of running at top speeds.
In 1983, a desert ant researcher named Rudiger Wehner estimated the ant’s speed at one metre per second. However, this estimate has been challenged. In 2009, a team of researchers from Ulm University in Germany filmed ants running at top speeds, and measured their speeds at 85 centimetres per second. The silver ants in the video were a little slower at 10 degrees Celsius, but the difference was still significant.
The silver ants have shorter legs than the larger Tunisian ants. They also have less fat. The shorter legs allow them to pack more strides into each second.
