You probably have a vague notion that ants are pretty strong, something you might think about after watching one of the minuscule insects drag a big crumb across your picnic blanket or while trying to figure out why they made a superhero called Antman. But when you see an ant like the one below, captured in high resolution macro photographic glory performing a super-insectoid feat of strength, it really hits home how brawny those little buggers truly are.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWZoZvxlG_2/?taken-by=eko_adiyanto
The image was captured by Indonesian macro photographer extraordinaire Eko Adiyanto right in his backyard in Bekasi, West Java. It shows a weaver ant carrying a dead bee, by just one of its antennae, while also walking across a thin branch.
An average Asian weaver ant weighs around 5 mg whereas an average bee can weigh around 280 mg, meaning this ant was lifting approximately 56 times its body weight.
In fact, it’s likely this ant wasn’t even using its full strength to achieve this feat, as weaver ants have been recorded carrying 500 mg, or 100 times their body weight, while upside down.
The mighty ant lifter above is just one of many amazing images that Eko Adiyanto has captured with his macro photography setup, which, according to his Instagram bio, consists of a “Nikon D90, 55-200 mm, Raynox, laowa 60 mm macro, twin flash laowa & Sony Memory Card”.
Here are a few more of Eko’s incredible shots of the insect world, check out his Instagram page to see lots more.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWmxiwGlZDd/?taken-by=eko_adiyanto
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTh_WVcFwtA/?taken-by=eko_adiyanto
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV0bADNFIq-/?taken-by=eko_adiyanto
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVcpr5OlCV9/?taken-by=eko_adiyanto
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUEVHNcF-73/?taken-by=eko_adiyanto
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