What insect can lift something fifty times its own body weight?

Question

Can you please answer this question and please provide a source to where you got the answer from. Thanks

Answer 1

Just about any small insect could do this.  A human could easily lift 100 times their weight if they were the same size as an ant.

It all has to do with scaling laws.  If you assign an animal a fundamental length, R, their weight goes as their *volume*, or R^3, but their strength goes as the cross-sectional *area* of their muscles, or R^2.

Let's say a 200-pound human is capable of lifting 300 pounds, or 1.5 times their own weight.

If you shrunk them to 1/10 of their height, they'd weigh 1/1000 as much, or 0.2 pounds.  Their strength would be 1/100 what it was, so they could lift 3 pounds.  Now can lift 15 times their own weight.

If you shrunk them to 1/100 of their original height, they'd weigh 1/1000000 as much, or 0.0002 pounds.  Their strength would be 1/10000 what it was, so they could lift 0.03 pounds.  Now they can lift 150 times their own weight.

If you go the other direction, they get proportionally weaker relative to their weight.  This is the reason insects can have very small, thin legs relative to their size, while elephants have legs which are a much larger proportion of their body.

Answer 2

An Ant.  How much can an ant lift?

An ant can lift up to 50 times it's own weight. Can you imagine? If people were the same as ants, a 100 pound person could lift 5,000 pounds!

Answer 3

i think it's some kind of an ant  (maybe red ant or the carnivorous ants)

i saw it on discovery

hope that helps

Answer 4

ANT!

Answer 5

ANTS