Carrying up to fifty times its own weight on your head is not something that any ant can do, but it is true that they carry volumes much larger than them. The same can be said of most insects such as, for example, beetles, among which the small Onthophagus taurus , capable of dragging 1,141 times its own weight.
Atta, ants that can lift up to 50 times their weight
Since ants are organized to perform tasks inside and outside the nest, those that have to go outside in search of food have to travel long distances and transport seeds, pieces of leaves, etc. until the anthill. And, except when transported in the crop, carry with them suppose to hold it with jaws with force and go forward, overcoming all kinds of obstacles.
Specifically, the ants that can raise that maximum of up to fifty times their own weight and thirty times their volume are of the genus known as Atta , ants leaf cutters with powerful jaws that can only be found in Latin America. Also, curiously, their interest in the leaves is not to eat them, but to feed them with underground fungi from which they feed.
The jaws and their size: the secret of their strength
The reason for this marvelous ability to carry heavier objects than themselves and travel with them great distances is one of the great curiosities of the animal world. As with other insects, its tiny size is key to explaining it.
Basically, in addition to having a very strong jaws and a body very adapted to the transport of weight with six legs between which to distribute the weight and a light skeleton, something that obviously facilitates the task, the truth is that as the size of the The body of an animal increases, it does so to a greater extent than its muscular strength.