Yes, ants can jump too!

New research led by assistant professor Sheila Patek from Berkeley University, using high-speed cameras to study ants, has discovered that trap-jaw ants possess an incredibly fast jumping ability. For instance, when attacking large prey, they use a "defensive jump," propelling themselves parallel to the ground using their hindquarters, with an average horizontal jump distance of 22.3 centimeters. However, when escaping danger, they perform an "escape jump" using the force of their mandibles to leap vertically into the air. Each mandible can generate a force 300 times their body weight and produce an acceleration 100,000 times that of gravity! The vertical jump height ranges between 6.1 and 8.3 centimeters, and they remain airborne for 0.22 to 0.27 seconds—enough time to evade predators such as lizards. (Video included)