Cool ninja ants

[K.I.L.E.R]

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_40982.shtml

Trap-jaw ants are able to achieve unprecedented strike speeds by utilizing a latch system to release stored energy. Their mandibles are held in a cocked position by a pair of large, contracting muscles in the head. The muscles are sprung when their corresponding latches are triggered. These rapid motions do not simply help the ants capture prey; the extreme accelerations also create strike forces that can exceed 500 times the ant's body weight, allowing the ants to launch themselves into the air. Simply by snapping their jaws against the ground or the body of an intruder, the ants can catapult themselves out of harm's way, achieving heights of up to 8.3 centimeters and horizontal distances of up to 39.6 centimeters. If an average human were to travel along a comparable aerial trajectory, these numbers would translate to roughly 44 feet high and 132 feet long.

 

[poopypoo]

i thought this was cool, thanks. the article leaves out a bunch of details i want, but i bet some googling will help. i thought the best part was "In the past few years, [Brian Fisher, responsible for the discoveries outlined in the article] has discovered over 900 new species of ants in Madagascar alone, including the Madagascar Dracula Ant - a find that is helping scientists to understand the evolution of ants from wasps."

ants fromwasps! how cool. i'm so stupid sometimes and always assumed it was the other way around -- simply because flying is so COOL! But of course evolution is not always so obvious -- nor is flying necessarily the best adaptation! So that part sorta blew my (tiny) mind! XD