Relative To Its Own Weight, What Is The Strongest Animal On The Planet?
A rhinoceros beetle is, relative to its’ own weight, the stongest animal on the planet. The amazing beetle, popular as children’s pets in Asia, can lift up to eight hundred and fifty times their body weight. To put this statement into perspective, an elephant can only carry twenty-five percent of it’s own weight and an ant can carry thirty times its’ own weight. The rhinoceros beetle, appropriately named due to its’ ‘rhinoceros’ horns on its’ head, are completely harmless in every way. The horns, unique to the male beetle, on their heads are used for clearing a path when on forest floors and against other males in mating battles. There are approximately three hundred different species of rhinoceros beetles which are found worldwide. Before becoming an adult rhinoceros beetle, the beetle must go through a metamorphosis. Larvae hatch from eggs which, in turn, metamorphosize to become adult rhinocerous beetles. The average adult rhinoceros beetle lives for approximately four months.
