I don't bee-lieve it! Strongman ant starts to drag bumblebee 60 TIMES its size towards its nest for lunch – before realising it's too big a challenge
- Hungry ant is spotted checking out a dead bumblebee as a potential meal
- Tiny insect attempts to drag the relatively huge bug to nest by its antennae
- Despite help from a friend the ant is forced to accept defeat centimetres later
This is the surreal moment a tiny ant fancied emulated 'a strongman' and tried to drag a bee 60 times his size to his nest for lunch - before realising his 'eyes were too big for his belly'.
The hungry insect had spotted the bumblebee on wildlife photographer Ron Thomas' driveway in Merseyside on Friday afternoon and decided it looked like an appetising meal.
In the footage, the minute creature grabs hold of one of the bee's antennae and begins dragging it with all his strength.
After being joined by a pal, the relentless team managed to drag the dead bee a couple of centimetres before his companion gave up.
The original ant soldiered on, clasping the antenna with its powerful jaws and yanking on it like a dog playing with its owner, before finally admitting defeat and appearing to decide on a smaller snack instead.
Retired telecoms engineer Ron, 69, went out after spotting the insects and drove around the bee to make sure the ant could return to it if he wished, but he didn't.
Ron, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, said: 'The whole thing was quite bizarre, really.
The hungry insect had spotted the bumblebee on wildlife photographer Ron Thomas' driveway in Merseyside on Friday afternoon and decided it looked like an appetising meal
'It's like he's emulating a strongman competition. I would say [the bee was] 10 times the length of the ant and six times the width.
'My initial thought was the ant was trying to take it to the nest to eat because I'd seen similar things with smaller insects. I thought the main reason for them doing this would be food.
'It's quite the feast. It would keep them going for a while.
'They seemed to be having a pretty good go at it but it's like his eyes were too big for his belly and he thought he'd find something smaller.'
In the footage, the minute creature grabs hold of one of the bee's antennae and begins dragging it with all his strength
Although dad-of-two Ron believes the insects were looking for a spot of lunch, he had never seen anything similar before and appealed to other nature buffs online.
One woman suggested the ant thought the bee might be full of poison after being sprayed with bug killer.
Ron said: 'I was aware that we have a number of ant nests in the front garden.
'The ant had noticed that this bee had died.
After being joined by a pal, the relentless team managed to drag the dead bee a couple of centimetres across the driveway
'One of the comments I got was from a lady who said it was possibly killed by fly spray and the ant wanted to eat it but decided there was too much toxic [spray] on it.
'It was a mysterious thing that was going on and I had the desire to record it so I could speak to someone else afterwards.
'Towards the end of the video, the ant that's done all the work walks off. He dwells a bit then disappears to do something else.
'That bee remained there for the rest of the day. I know that because I had to go out after that and I drove the car around the bee.
'The bee was in the same place when I came back three or four hours later.'
But realising the bee had eyes literally bigger than the ant's belly, the insect and his friend gave in
Photographer Ron Thomas, 69, said the ant behaved like it was 'emulating a strongman competition'
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