Trap-Jaw Ant

The trap-jaw ant, Odontomachus bauri, closes its mandibles at 35 to 64 meters per second (78 to 145 miles per hour), the fastest predatory strike in the animal kingdom. The mandibles are held like a crossbow, cocked by a pair of huge contracting muscles latched to a plate in the head. The ant uses its powerful jaws not only to attack but also to propel. After biting into an intruder, the force of its mandibles springs the ant straight backward up to 39.6 centimeters, with an acceleration equal to 100,000 times the force of gravity. To evade predators, the trap-jaw ant can catapult itself up to 8.3 centimeters straight into the air, as seen in these videos:
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