But how do human athletic skills compare with those of insects and arachnids? Once you take the relative sizes into account, it's clear invertebrates have the winning edge.

Strength

Weightlifting is a common measure for human strength. Weightlifters can compete in two events at the Olympics: the snatch and the clean and jerk.

The men's snatch world record of 222 kilograms is held by Lasha Talakhadze from Georgia. Talakhadze weighs around 175kg himself, so he is lifting about 1.25 times his own weight. He is considered the greatest (human) super-heavyweight weightlifter of all time.

If we compare his achievement to what invertebrates do every day, it looks a little less impressive. The tiny moss mite Archegozetes longisetosus, a soil-dwelling arachnid, can produce a gripping force 1,180 times its body weight. The green weaver ant can lift more than 100 times its body weight. Mound ants are even more powerful: engineers have established they have the neck strength to hold up to 5,000 times their body weight.