A bug’s lift
Have you ever tried to carry your own body weight? How about 50 times your own body weight? We didn’t think so…
As some of the larger members of the animal kingdom, humans possess a good deal of volume and mass, meaning that we require more muscle mass to maintain our strength relative to our body weight. That’s before you add the weight of holding children, bringing in the shopping or sweating it out in the gym. Whenever we add to our load, our muscles must work to carry our own body weight in addition to whatever else we’re carting along.
Because insects are on the smaller end of the spectrum, their volume and mass is much lower than humans or, indeed, most of the rest of the animal kingdom. They also have the added advantage of being without an internal skeleton, meaning less bones to haul around in their meat sack. Or exoskeleton, as it were. As such, insects are routinely able to transport up to 50 times their own body weight, like an ant carrying a leaf, for example.
Despite the juxtaposition of a diminutive ant hoisting brilliant green foliage, though, the dung beetle takes the title of strongest member of the insect world, weighing in at 99 grams. It is able to lift up to 1,141 times its own weight—the equivalent of a human lifting more than 81,000 kilograms!
Weight isn’t the only thing insects can move…
Insects also have a reputation for spreading disease, such as the bubonic plague (fleas) and Lyme disease (ticks). Mosquitos take the cake, though, acting as vectors for diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and West Nile disease, amongst others.
They might have a bad rap, but only 1% of species are harmful to humans while the other 99% are helpful. One of the most important things bugs spread is pollen, helping our food to grow.
