World''s fastest ants found in Sahara desert, reveal researchers : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

World''s fastest ants found in Sahara desert, reveal researchers

PARIS: It’s official: The Saharan silver ant is the fastest of the world''s 12,000 known ant species, clocking a blistering 855 millimetres—nearly a metre—per second, researchers said on Thursday.

World''s fastest ants found in Sahara desert, reveal researchers

Photo for representation only.



PARIS

It’s official: The Saharan silver ant is the fastest of the world's 12,000 known ant species, clocking a blistering 855 millimetres—nearly a metre—per second, researchers said on Thursday.

Measured another way, the six-legged sprinter covers 108 times its own body length per second, a feat topped only by two other creatures, the Australian tiger beetle and the California coastal mite.

To do the equivalent, the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, would have to run the 200 metres in one second.

Making the exploit even more remarkable, the Saharan silver hits top speed racing at midday across desert sands that reach 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), the researchers reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

A quartet of researchers from the Universities of Ulm and Freiburg in Germany tracked down Cataglyphis bombycina in the Tunisian desert and set up a field lab as a race course.

"Once we had located a nest, it was simply a matter of connecting an aluminium channel to the entrance and placing a feeder at the end to lure the ants out," said lead author Sarah Pfeffer.

"They shuttled back-and-forth in the channel and we mounted our camera to film them from the top." Pfeffer and her team also excavated a nest and transported it back to Germany, where they recorded C bombycina's running prowess in cooler climes.

As expected, when the temperature dropped to a chilly 10 C the ant slowed down by more than a third.

At top speed, the Saharan silver easily outpaces it's nearest ant competitor Cataglyphis fortis—despite having significantly shorter legs.

It does this by swinging its tiny 5-mm long appendages at speeds of up to 1,300 mm per second.

The length of the ant's strides increased four-fold as the animal shifted into high gear, they found.

The scientists also discovered that—at its fastest—C bombycina switches from running to a gallop, with all six feet off the ground at regular intervals. — AFP

Top News

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

US makes another remark on Kejriwal's arrest, reacts to freezing of Congress bank accounts

US makes another remark on Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, reacts to freezing of Congress bank accounts

We encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes, s...

Explainer: Why BJP is flying solo in Punjab and Odisha

Explainer: Why BJP is flying solo in Punjab and Odisha

A multi-cornered contest is always advantageous for BJP; it ...


Cities

View All