Today's Trivia - Ants Are Strong

Occasionally, I put out baked goods and cereals for the birds, which includes things like sandwich bread, bagels, English muffins, crackers, donuts, cookies and an assortment of breakfast cereals. All of these are things are leftover foods that no one is going to eat, and rather than throw them out, I invite my backyard critters to feast on them.

Squirrels, chipmunks and birds love when the menu offers these goodies; they eagerly run, hop and fly in to stuff their furry and feathery faces. And in addition to these animals, the ants also join in and carry off some of these delicacies, in huge amounts, might I add. I�ve seen some of them walking away with bagel pieces that are large enough to be a house.

Which brings me to today�s trivia.

Did you know that ants can carry items anywhere from 10 � 50 times their own body weight? This may not seem as remarkable as it sounds unless you apply the concept to us (weak) humans. For example, can you picture a 200-pound man carrying an item 30 times his weight, which would be 6000 pounds? I didn�t think so.


But that�s what ants do, which I personally think is pretty remarkable. Now, can you imagine coming face to face with an ant (if you were both the same size) and needing to defend yourself against it? You wouldn�t stand a chance.

And that�s all for this week�s trivia!