In an engineering marvel, ants are known to be able to carry significantly more weight than their body weight — typically 10 to 50 times their weight, or even more. The secret lies in their strong muscles and exoskeleton, which allows them to withstand high forces. In fact, certain species, like leafcutter ants, can carry up to 50 times their body weight!
A 2014 study published in the Journal of Biomechanics reported that the neck joint of a typical American field ant can withstand pressures up to 5,000 times the ant’s weight. “ on a small scale because their bodies are so light. Inside their hard exoskeletons, their muscles don’t have to provide much support, so they are free to apply all their strength to lifting other objects,” explained the research, adding that humans, in contrast, carry comparatively heavy loads due to our body weight. With our muscles supporting our body weight, we don’t have as much strength left over to lift other objects.
If ants can lift such heavy weights, our curious brains naturally wonder just how many of these tiny powerhouses would need to come together and lift an entire human being? Sam Mathew, a design thinker, co-founder of Blindvsnry, and winner of global hackathons including HackMIT, HackHarvard, and PenApps, sheds light.
“For the sake of understanding, let’s take an average human weight of 70 kg (154 lbs). Ants can lift 10–50 times their body weight (depending on species). We’ll take a moderate estimate: 20 times their body weight. An roughly 5 milligrams (0.005 grams or 0.000005 kg),” said Mathew.
How much can one ant lift?
0.000005 kg × 20 = 0.0001 kg (0.1 grams per ant).
70 ÷ 0.0001 = 700,000 ants.
“This assumes perfect coordination. Realistically, ants aren’t going to evenly distribute weight like a precision-engineered crane team. You’d probably need 1.5 to 2 million ants to account for chaos, slipping, poor distribution,” he added.
So, the answer to the question is 700,000 ants in an ideal condition, but two million ants in real life, and a very confused human being taken over as an evening snack for the queen!
