Big Meat Ant

Everything’s bigger in Australia. The country is littered with giant roadside gimmicks aiming to put its various towns on the map. But this colossal creepy-crawly creature is more likely to cause shudders than smiles.

The meat ant is the mascot of Augathella, a small town in western Queensland, Australia. The town chose the enormous insect as its mascot not because it’s overrun with the (much smaller) real-life version, but because of its football team.

Apparently, in the 1960s, the local football team was rather aggressive out on the field (meat ants are aggressive toward other ants). The football players also wore maroon jerseys and blue shorts, which matched the colors of a meat ant’s body.

The Big Meat Ant was installed in 2011. Created by artist Amanda Feher, the brass, copper, and steel sculpture was part of a $250,000 project to attract tourists to Augathella. It’s now the centerpiece of the aptly named Meat Ant Park.