Ant Snapping Jaws Shut at Full Speed (VIDEO)
Caption
No one knew previously just how fast Myrmoteras jaws move, but according to the new study, the ant's predatory strike takes only about half a millisecond. That's 700 times faster than the blink of an eye. To watch the action, Larabee and his colleagues filmed the ants with a high-speed camera, capturing 50,000 frames per second. By measuring the mandibles' movements between different frames of the videos, they calculated that the closing jaws of Myrmoteras reach a peak speed of about 50 miles an hour.
Credit
Fredrick Larabee, Smithsonian.
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