An ant can't move a rubber tree plant.

A guy has just won a photography contest for an image of an ant lifting 100 times its own weight and I just wanted to share it (the rest is filler )

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An amazing image of an ant lifting 100 times its body weight has won first prize in a science photography contest. The image shows an Asian weaver ant hanging upside down on a glass-like surface and holding a 500mg (0.02oz) weight in its jaws. It was taken by zoology specialist Dr Thomas Endlein of Cambridge University as he researched insects' sticky feet.

Weightlifting ant is photo winner

Pretty cool photo? Our tiny little nuisances and eco-friendly warriors could take over the world with the right leader

They represent up to 30% of all the animal biomass (wiki) (not a great wiki) on land!! That's a lot of ants...

According to Hölldobler and Wilson (1990), up to 1/3 (33%) of the terrestrial animal biomass (NOTE: not including aquatic animal, or terrestrial and aquatic flowering plants and microorganisms) was made up of ants and termites. A study made in Finland produced a terrestrial animal biomass of ants alone of 10%. In the Brazilian rain forest the biomass of ants exceeds that of terrestrial vertebrates by four times! Thus a figure for ants of 15% of all terrestrial animal biomass is not out of line.

Percentage of biomass made up by ants...

They live in 'super-colonies' that span areas of the Mediterranean, Argentina and elsewhere. Below is an image of a 'small' nest that's been filled with plaster of Paris...





Ant mega-colony takes over world

Who'd have guessed what a mighty species these strong little critters are?

Wow' that's a great picture. Incredible!! Thanx for sharing it..I really enjoyed reading about it. S&F

The photo is amazing, thanks for sharing. And these little guys don't just do weightlifting, they parachute too!

In 2009 Bolucevschi Vitali Nicolai from Moldova won the "Environmental Photographer of the Year" competition with this photo:
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The 24 year old photographer tells the story behind the photo:

On a sunny day I took a camera and set out to photograph something of the life of ants. At first I was no good as the ants moved very quickly and I was easily distracted. But gradually I was drawn to a group which was climbing up a nearby dandelion. They would each pull out one seed and then parachute to the ground. Unfortunately I could not photograph these moments well, but I did manage to get this one shot of the last few ants before they flew down.

www.independent.co.uk...

[edit on 20/2/10 by ziggystar60]

reply to post by ziggystar60

I was drawn to a group which was climbing up a nearby dandelion. They would each pull out one seed and then parachute to the ground.

Blimey That's a great picture and the idea of flying ants reinforces my creeping fear that they are one powerful leader away from posing a threat to National Security.

I once felt sorry for a lonely ant in my parents' kitchen. I put a single drop of maple syrup down to give the little guy a snack. Next day, my dad phoned up, baffled by the hundred ants covering the worktop, I was too embarrassed to explain...I was an adult at the time! His kitchen became 'The Field of Dreams' for ants.

EDIT to sneak in this video that should see my Foe count go through the roof...

[edit on 20-2-2010 by Kandinsky]

If an ant can do it, then why can't we... Well I guess some people can who have the hercules gene. My current belief is that your mind can alter your dna, so everyone should be able to lift way more then their weight like this ant can! I wonder what the more accpted reasons are that we can't lift so much but an ant can..

Ant actually behaves more like humans (less hardwork in humans though)

"Ant colonies are remarkably similar to cities. No one choreographs the action, not even the queen ant, but ant behavior is controlled by swarm logic--put 10,000 dumb ants together, and they become smart. They will calculate the shortest routes to food supplies sniffing out pheromone signals from other ants and Johnson says people do the same thing in cities using low-level interactions of people on the street." --Alex Cukan, "Stories of modern science," United Press International, October 8, 2001

And this is a great quote

I look at an ant and I see myself: a native South African, endowed by nature with a strength much greater than my size so I might cope with the weight of a racism that crushes my spirit.
Miriam Makeba

reply to post by ziggystar60



Ants don't "parachute" and that's why our intrepid photographer couldn't get any pictures of it. They simply cut off the useless stalk of the seed and took the rest home. If any were to be magically "airlifted" it would have been entirely by accident and not design, if it did indeed even occur. It is my speculation that the "parachuting"bit was purely an embellishment to add interest to an already good photo. Still a good find though. Parachuting ants

I've seen it all now.

He WON ENVIRONMENTAL PHTOTGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR A STORY THAT HE COULDN"T EVEN DOCUMENT. Sometimes a word is worth a thousand pictures, eh? Kinda tees me off.

[edit on 20-2-2010 by Asktheanimals]

this is interesting i was just reading on insect colony's

Pheromones produced by healthy kings and queens normally suppress gonad development in "helper" classes, and when the kings and queens die, the pheromones disappear or diminish. As a result, suppression lifts and nonrelated, "sterile," helper offspring from both colonies are able to become new "reproductives" and assume the throne

-- Bobbie Mixon, National Science Foundation

Originally posted by Asktheanimals


He WON ENVIRONMENTAL PHTOTGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR A STORY THAT HE COULDN"T EVEN DOCUMENT. Sometimes a word is worth a thousand pictures, eh? Kinda tees me off.

[edit on 20-2-2010 by Asktheanimals]

I am so sorry that this wonderful photo upsets you. But you know, he won the contest for the PHOTO, which is pretty great by itself, parachuting ants or not.

Personally I have no reason to belive that the photographer was lying, but I am certainly not an expert on ants and their behaviour.

reply to post by ziggystar60


It's not the photo that upsets me. I have no doubt that the story made the judges see the picture differently than they would have otherwise. As photos go it has poor focus and depth of field. The composition isn't much either. From what I see this is not what I would consider to be an award winning photo. It's interesting but I'm sure the story made it even more so to some people.
Don't get me wrong, I love insects and study them constantly. I am 99% certain that his story IS untrue. Think about it - how do ants find their way home? Pheromone trails, which if they were "Parachuting" would likely send them far away from home and render them unable to bring the food to the colony. Parachuting would serve no purpose. Primates may engage in what we call play but insects do not.
Best regards, ATA

Ps - no, im not a nature photographer so jealousy is not a motivation in
my response.

Also note that the OP's picture won an award for animal BEHAVIOR, not for artistic merit.

[edit on 20-2-2010 by Asktheanimals]

reply to post by Kandinsky


"An ant can't move a rubber tree plant."
No, but a clever ant could carry a seed for a rubber tree plant & place it where he wanted the tree to grow. lol

reply to post by Kandinsky


LOL he must have called all this friends to come party.

reply to post by Asktheanimals
Those ants may or may not be planning a base jump from the head of that flower...we'll likely never know. The image called to mind another famous photograph...

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reply to post by Kandinsky


I love the ant photo!
["An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human."]

This quote was taken from this webpage www.lingolex.com... with lots of interesting facts about ants and for your entertainment pleasure - Here are some interesting plants




[edit on 21-2-2010 by rusethorcain]