Watch an Army of Ants Band Together and Carry a Spider 1000x Their Size

Tiny but mighty, ants are some of the most common and abundant animal groups across the globe! With the exception of some small islands and Antarctica, ants can be found quite literally everywhere in the world. Don’t discount them for their small size though; when they form groups they become unstoppable! For instance, watch below as an army of small ants works together to move a spider that’s around 1,000 times their size. 

Check Out the Video Below!

The clip was posted on Reddit and shows a large group of ants carrying a humongous spider that appears to be dead. In a time-lapse, we can see that the ants gathering around it because they are trying to carry the ant across some sort of walkway. 

With the video’s fast speed, it almost seems as though the spider is moving on its own, but it is all the work of the ants! With hundreds of helpers grabbing on each leg, the video concludes by showing the spider’s body getting dragged away. 

How Strong Are Ants? 

As shown in the video, ants are pretty mighty for their size. Some species can lift up to 20 times their body weight; others can lift as much as 50 times their body weight! This means that a tiny singular ant can carry leaves and debris much bigger than itself. This characteristic is extremely important for foraging and collecting goods for the colony. 

Multiple ants can combine their power into a collective strength to carry large loads. This is what was shown with the group carrying off a spider.

Most sources agree that ants achieve this strength through a slim and light body plan. Their exoskeletons allow their muscles to have more freedom to carry loads. 

Colony Structure 

Ants aren’t only social when it comes to hunting and foraging. Most species live within rigid colonial systems. 

To begin, queens start their glorious reign as princesses who go out and mate with many males. After mating, these princesses will store the male’s reproductive fluid and start a brand new colony. This is the main reason why there are only queens and no kings. 

Each species may have its typical setup, however, the average colony will consist of a queen, female workers, and males. 

As mentioned, the queen is solely responsible for laying eggs and sustaining the colony’s members. She will stay in the hive for her life, with her only duty to be creating offspring. 

Compared to this, female workers fulfill most of the tasks that are required to sustain the colony, such as finding food, feeding the young, and tending to the queen. In contrast to this, male ants have a much more reduced role, which consists of mating with the queen to help sustain the colony. 

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Dhe Tong/Shutterstock.com