Insect Strength!

Many types of different insects each have their advantages when it comes to surviving out their in the open world. To me, its quite fascinating to see how each species applies it's "talents" during its lifespan (which is usually quite short). One of the most fascinating things I have recently stumbled upon is a specific group of insects claimed by many to be the strongest in all of the kingdom. Their strength is incomprehensible to the human mind based on how much they can lift compared to their body weight. The top three strongest insects in our world are the Flea, Rhinoceros Beetle, and the Dung Beetle.

The Flea shows its strength with an impressive jumping ability. The Flea is able to jump 18 cm vertically and 33 cm horizontally. This may not seem like much at first but compared to its body length that is around 200 times the distance. Pretty impressive for such a small creature. The power behind this mighty leap is said to be from the principle of catapult and stored energy where resilin, an elastic material on the hind legs of the Flea, is compressed and released similar to a spring. The jumping is used for the Flea to get high enough to latch onto it's host.

                                                     
                                                                          Flea

Next is the Rhinoceros Beetle which is one of the largest beetles growing up to six inches. Given its name based on the horns located in the head region on males, this insect uses its horns and incredible strength to dig through leaf litter and soil to escape danger. I'd say digging yourself a hole to escape danger is pretty cowardly, but this insect based on its strength is not a weak one by any means. The Rhinoceros Beetle is able to lift objects 850 times its weight. This would be like a human lifting a 65 ton object!

                                    
                                             Horns on the Rhinoceros Beetle 

Lastly is the strongest insect on our planet.....the Dung Beetle. Living in dung (as the name implies) these insects eat the dung for strength. Really gross to think about but it was claimed that these beetles become weak otherwise (good thing they live in what they eat). The strength they occupy is to roll balls of dung to eat/live in or for males to fight one another for females (strength gets the girls after all). Being the strongest insect in the world and strongest animal in the world compared to body weight Dung Beetles can pull an object 1141 times their body weight. This is similar to a human pulling six double-decker buses full of people! Now that is strong!

                                 
                                              Dung Beetle pushing a ball of dung

Information found from:
http://mlevit.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/random-fact-4-the-flea-its-strength-and-speed/
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Invertebrates/Rhinoceros-Beetles.aspx
http://news.discovery.com/animals/worlds-strongest-insect-named.htm
http://www.world5list.com/2013/12/10/top-5-strongest-insects/

Images found from:
http://www.orkin.com/other/fleas/dog-fleas/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/25/would-you-believe-dung-beetles-follow-the-milky-way-to-steer-themselves-away-from-competition/
http://www.livescience.com/27852-images-amazing-rhinoceros-beetles.html