Is Bigger Better?

Elephants might be strong, but they are weak compared to ants because ants have certain advantages that allow them to outlift their larger competitors.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Exoskeleton: a rigid external covering for the body in some invertebrate animals, especially arthropods, providing both support and protection.
- Endoskeleton: an internal skeleton, such as the bony or cartilaginous skeleton of vertebrates.
- Leverage: the exertion of force by means of a lever or an object used in the manner of a lever.
- Square-cube law: a mathematical principle, applied in a variety of scientific fields, which describes the relationship between the volume and the surface area as a shape's size increases or decreases.

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CREDITS
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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman & Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

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REFERENCES
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[BlahCraft]

Huh, I didn't realize bugs had issues breathing while molting. You learn something new everyday.

[bihaniparth]

Was wondering about how the giant insects from the Carboniferous period survived. i am aware that the % of Oxygen in the atmosphere was much higher but they still would have had to survive without Oxygen while moulting their giant bodies unless they had some adaptation which has since been lost in the modern insect species which allowed the giant insects to moult while being able to breathe

[jcortese]

I understand that exoskeletons are also comparatively fragile. An ant can survive a fall because they are so light, but even a tarantula can be killed by a fairly shallow fall because they are just about heavy enough for their exterior to crack open in a fall.

We put our squishy bits on our outsides, so we can fall further before we get broken open.

[farshaikh]

Imagine an insect coming to you and asking, "Do you even lift bro?"

[SRFriso]

But then how did the molting process work back when insects were giants? From your own video: Dragonflies and big as eagles and millipedes as big as canoes.

[petersmythe]

Exoskeletons can perfectly well function on dog-sized animals. Just look at coconut crabs.

As for growth, turtles can grow their shells just fine.

There are also disadvantages to exoskeletons. It is much easier to kink or dent them than it is to break a bone, since they are hollow thin-walled tubes. Muscle attachments that far from a join can also create situations where strength is high but speed is low, and low speed cannot be effectively improved by adding more musculature.

Exoskeletons also require complicated ways to expand the skeleton if the volume of its contents changes momentarily by breathing or eating. These can compromise the strength of the skeleton. Some animals like wasps have these features. Others, like spiders, don't, and as a consequence, large spiders are vulnerable to rupture from hard impacts or falls that a mammal would find harmless.

[Glass-vfil]

How do crustaceans get around the size limiting factors of exoskeletons? Is it because of the water?

[TheRMeerkerk]

"Gi-ants" you never seizes to amaze me with your dedication to create these witty puns, MinuteEarth!

[LimeyLassen]

Birds (and dinosaurs) offer a really interesting comparison, they're similar to mammals in a lot of ways but the way they breathe is very different. (Their body is packed with air sacs and they oxygenate on both the inhale and the exhale). The hollow bones are also part of how the sauropods got really big.

[SonOfmowgef]

0:44 Link called. He wants his Minish cap back.

[nil]

I think it was a PBS Eons host that said and I'm paraphrasing:

"Being bigger only works if it grants you access to a different resource that allows for bigger sizes otherwise being bigger just means that you need more resources to sustain yourself."

[chrism]

Your pun game must have an exoskeleton because it is strong! The giANT one had me in stitches! 😂

[babilon]

It never bugged me why ants are so strong because I knew about square-cube law and never learned the exact numbers of just how strong they are. I watched your video really bug-eyed. Imagine if bed-bugs were that big. Buggers would bite...

I rub the bags under my eyes and bug-off to debug my code.

Bug, I mean, by!

[rextanglr]

I love how people hear this "ants can carry ten times its weight" fact and immediately conclude that it's extremely strong without considering the actual weight of an ant... it's like, nothing.

Plus, an elephant can carry an ant, but there's no way an ant can carry ten elephants.

[Ninjaeule]

That's also the reason why insect size is largely dependent on O2 concentration in the atmosphere. In a pure O2 atmosphere, you could get giant insects (that are also really flammable but so would everything else).

[diracio]

Loved it! V informative and entertaining as ever!

[gw]

1:35 is heracross everybodys favorite bug pokemon

[Tom_and_Lulu]

Great stuff as always. It would be great if you could work in metric as well for those of use that would like to use your work in schools outside the USA.

[feynstein]

Btw wouldn't air resistance also be significant at small scales that it'd kinda be like lifting things underwater for us?

[skeepodoop]

I had a thought; is there something stopping an exoskeletal animal from developing lungs? That surely would allow them to not have to passively take in oxygen from the atmosphere right?