Awesome Animal Fact - Fast Ant

Did you know the Dracula ant is the fastest moving animal on Earth? No, they don't run fast, but researchers have recently found that they can snap their jaws shut at 200 miles per hour (322 km/hr).

Here's how it works. Think about what happens when you snap your fingers. You press your finger against your thumb until it builds up a lot of pressure. Then, when you force your finger past your thumb, it moves really fast, striking the pad of your palm with a slapping sound. Now picture your finger moving 1,000 times faster, and you'll appreciate the speed of the Dracula ant's jaws.

The ant simply pushes its large jaws together so hard that one of them bends, kind of like a spring. Finally, the pressure becomes so great that the bent jaw slips past the other jaw and shoots to the side with astounding speed. Five thousand times faster than the blink of an eye.

Why the name Dracula ant? It comes from the way they sometimes suck the blood from their own young. Don't worry, this doesn't harm the babies. It's a form of non-destructive cannibalism. The parents cannot eat solid food, so they feed prey animals to their larvae, then they chew a hole in the side of the larvae and drink their blood. I know... it's weird. Scientists call this feeding arrangement a "social stomach."