March 24, 2010
World's strongest animal effectively benches 1,000 times its body weight
By Katherine Harmon
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Even if a grown man could pull 95,000 kilograms, he still would get shown up by the newly crowned world's strongest insect—proportionally speaking.
Researchers recently discovered that this honor should go to the Onthophagus taurusdung beetle, whose strongest males can pull some 1,140 times their own body weight, the research team reported in a press release. (Consolations to the rhinoceros beetle, which has frequently been given the title for pulling about 850 times its weight.) The findings came about as part of a study published online March 23 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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"Insects are well known for being able to perform amazing feats of strength, and it's all on account of their curious sex lives," Robert Knell, of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary University of London, and lead author of the study, said in a prepared statement.
"Female beetles of this species dig tunnels under a dung pat, where males mate with them. If a male enters a tunnel that is already occupied by a rival, they fight by locking horns and try to push each other out," Knell explained.
But not every male O. taurus is a super-strong prizefighter. Some males are not as big and strong as their big-horned fellows. Instead, these males are fast walkers with super-dense testes, who can sneak into the females' tunnels, avoiding the so-called "major" males altogether. Once alone with the female, they use their higher sperm count to up their chances at impregnating her in their single shot.
"These different behaviors generate different selective pressures for the two morphs," Knell and his colleague Leigh Simmons, of the School of Animal Biology at the University of Western Australia in Crawley, wrote.
Scientists have proposed that these two behaviors are determined genetically, but Knell and Simmons experimented to see if food deprivation had any affect on how males performed in their respective mating approaches. They found, however, that these beetles were still "able to maintain high expression of strength or testes mass." Stronger than most strongmen, for sure.
Image courtesy of Alex Wild
FAQs
The 1-and-a-quarter-inch dung beetle, nature's strongest creature relative to its size, can move balls of poop 1,141 times their own body weight. If you were that strong, you could deadlift a space shuttle.
What creature can pull 1100 times its body weight? ›
The insect world is famous for its Olympian power-lifters, but the horned dung beetle (Onthophagus Taurus) takes the gold. A mere 10 millimeters long, the beetle can pull up to 1141 times its own body weight-the equivalent of an average man lifting two fully-loaded 18-wheeler trucks.
What animal can lift 1000 pounds? ›
The largest members of the cat family, a tiger can carry up to twice its own weight of 1,000 pounds. It can also eat up to 45 pounds of food in one night. Elephants are the strongest mammals, with the ability to lift 130 humans. That's approximately 14,000 pounds.
What animal can bench press the most? ›
A Silverback gorilla can lift 4,000 lb (1,810 kg) on a bench press, while a well-trained man can only lift up to 885 lb (401.5 kg. Research shows that a gorilla can lift up to 27 times their full body weight.
What is the highest weight animal in the world? ›
The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the biggest animal on the planet, weighing up to 400,000 pounds (approximately 33 elephants) and reaching up to 98 feet in length.
What is the toughest animal? ›
The hands down hardest creature is a tardigrade, also known as a waterbear. Less than 1.5mm long, they can dehydrate their bodies to just 1 per cent of their normal water content.
What animal can carry 5000 times its body weight? ›
Even ants' joints are strong: the neck joints of the common field ant Formica exsectoides can withstand 5,000 times the ant's body weight.
What is the strongest creature on Earth? ›
The strongest animal in the world is the African bush elephant, which is capable of lifting 6,000kg, its own body weight from lying down. Even their trunks can lift over 200kg, thanks to over 40,000 muscles.
What animal is the best fighter? ›
Best Fighter: Elephant or Porcupine (Tie)
ESPN ranks Sugar Ray Robinson as the all-time greatest boxer, holding world titles for much of the 1940s and 50s. Bet You Didn't Know: Elephants sometimes make purr-like sounds when they're content.
What animal can lift 850 times its weight? ›
Rhinoceros beetles can carry objects up to 850 times their own body weight. This incredible strength, akin to a human lifting nine adult elephants, is used in battles over mates and territory.
Elephant
In brute strength, elephants are the strongest mammals and the strongest land animals. African elephants can weigh up to 6,350kg and they can carry up to 9,000kg, the weight of 130 adult humans.
What animal weighs 1,000 pounds? ›
Bison are the largest mammal in North America.
Male bison (called bulls) weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand 6 feet tall, while females (called cows) weigh up to 1,000 pounds and reach a height of 4-5 feet. Bison calves weigh 30-70 pounds at birth.
Who has the strongest bench of all time? ›
The current world record (equipped, with shirt) is held by American Jimmy Kolb established on July 29th, 2023, at the 2023 IPA Tristar Bash meet, when he successfully locked out 635 kg (1,401 lb), beating the previous record by 23 kg (51 lb).
What animal can withstand the most force? ›
One of the tested tardigrades, a species with the name Hypsibius dujardini, can withstand acceleration forces of 16,000 Gs, or 16,000 times normal Earth gravity. By comparison, astronauts in the space shuttle were generally not exposed to more than 3 Gs, and prolonged exposure to 16 Gs can be deadly for humans.
Which animal is the strongest physically? ›
The strongest animal in the world is the African bush elephant, which is capable of lifting 6,000kg, its own body weight from lying down. Even their trunks can lift over 200kg, thanks to over 40,000 muscles. For context, an adult humans have just over 600 muscles in their entire bodies.
What animal is the biggest killer of humans? ›
What animal has the strongest scales? ›
Arapaima Fish Scales are One of Nature's Toughest Flexible Materials.
How much stronger is a leopard than a human? ›
Leopards can run up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour, but will not chase prey for long distances. Consequently, they can lose their meal to lions, hyenas and wild dogs. Leopards are thought to be seven times stronger than human beings and they can haul a carcass three times their weight.
