How Strong Is a Hercules Beetle? The 850 Times Claim Checked

Where does the “850 times” claim come from?

The idea that the Hercules beetle can carry 850 times its weight appears in books, quizzes and websites around the world. Its exact origin is unclear. It is usually repeated without any reference to a scientific study, test method or named researcher, and no peer-reviewed measurement on Dynastes hercules has produced such a number.

Claims like this often come from informal demonstrations, such as piling weights on a beetle’s back until it can no longer move, or allowing it to brace against a surface. Supporting a load while standing still is very different from lifting it or walking with it, so even if a beetle once held up such a weight, the figure says little about its usable strength.

What studies of rhinoceros beetles actually show

The best-known measurement comes from the American physiologist Rodger Kram, who in 1996 tested load carrying in a rhinoceros beetle from Asia, a smaller relative of the Hercules beetle. He attached weights to the beetles’ backs and measured how much energy they used while walking.

The beetles could walk while carrying up to about 30 times their own body mass, and they did so surprisingly cheaply in energy terms. Heavier loads, of the order of 100 times body mass, left them barely able to move. These figures are for a smaller species, and small animals are relatively stronger, so a Hercules beetle is unlikely to do better per unit of weight.

Why small animals seem so strong

The strength of a muscle depends mainly on its cross-sectional area, which grows with the square of body length. Body weight depends on volume, which grows with the cube. If an animal doubles in length, its muscles become about four times stronger, but its weight rises about eight times.

This is called the square-cube law, and it explains why insects, ants and mites can carry loads many times their own weight while elephants cannot. A beetle the size of a person would not be a superhero. Its legs and muscles would struggle to support its own body, and its breathing tubes could not deliver enough oxygen to such a large body.

That is why comparisons such as “a beetle as strong as a human would lift a truck” are misleading. Relative strength always looks greatest in the smallest animals, which is why the strongest animals by body weight are tiny invertebrates rather than gorillas or elephants.

What does a Hercules beetle use its strength for?

Male Hercules beetles use their strength mainly in fights. A male grips a rival between his long thoracic horn and the shorter head horn, lifts him off a branch or log and throws him down. The winner gains access to a female. This kind of contest selects for strong legs, firm grip and a powerful neck joint, as well as for long horns.

Strength also helps in everyday life. Adults dig into leaf litter to hide during the day, force their way through dense vegetation and cling to bark while feeding on sap. Females dig into soft, rotting wood and soil to lay their eggs. Their stout, spiny legs end in sharp claws that give a very strong grip, which is why a Hercules beetle can be hard to pull off a branch.

Is the Hercules beetle the strongest insect?

Probably not. The title of “strongest insect” is often given to the horned dung beetle Onthophagus taurus, a much smaller species. In a laboratory study reported in 2010, males resisted being pulled out of a tunnel with forces of up to about 1,141 times their own body weight. Like the Hercules beetle’s fights, this strength is used in contests between males, which push and wedge themselves into tunnels to guard females.

Ants are also famous for carrying heavy loads, often many times their own weight, as described in how strong are ants. All of these figures depend heavily on how strength is measured: pulling, pushing, holding on and walking with a load are very different tasks, and records are not directly comparable.

The bottom line

The Hercules beetle is one of the largest and most powerful beetles in the world, and a big male can grip a rival with remarkable force. But the much-quoted “850 times its own weight” is a myth, or at best an untested claim. Measured rhinoceros beetles can walk with up to about 30 times their weight, and that is impressive enough for an insect that also flies.