UC Berkeley scientists have discovered that trap-jaw ants have the fastest predatory strike in the entire animal kingdom. According to biologist Sheila Patek, whose work I've previously profiled in ScienceMatters, the ant's mandible strikes at 78 to 145 miles per hour, with each jaw generating more than 300 times the insect's weight in force. From the Berkeley NewsCenter:
…Animals such as trap-jaw ants and mantis shrimp (which formerly held the record for swiftest strike in the animal world) utilize energy stored within their own bodies. The mandibles of the trap-jaw ant, for instance, are held cocked by a pair of huge, contracting muscles in the head. The muscles are sprung when their corresponding latches, each on a shield-like plate called the clypeus, are triggered.…O. bauri ants can launch themselves into the air with a mere snap of their jaws, achieving heights up to 8.3 centimeters and horizontal distances up to 39.6 centimeters. That roughly translates, for a 5-foot-6-inch tall human, into a height of 44 feet and a horizontal distance of 132 feet, an aerial trajectory likely to be the envy of circus acrobats and Olympic athletes.
