Tuesday, December 9, 2014

5 Strange Defense Mechanisms in the Animal Kingdom


It’s surprising what some animals would do to save their own skin. With predators ready to pounce on them, these creatures have a very strange way of defending themselves and live to tell the tale.

Horror Frogs





With a name like that, you’d think that these frogs are too scary to actually have any other animals messing with them. Also known as hairy frogs, they would go as far as breaking their toe bones when they’re being threatened. These bones puncture their skin and turns into a set of claws that they can use to scratch predators. These frogs are basically nature’s version of Wolverine from the X-men. Researchers are not really sure with what happens to their bone-claws, but they suggested that once the frog relaxes, the bones would slide beck into their skin.

N. taracua and C. saundersi

There are just time when you feel like you could explode because of anger. However, two bug species actually does this in real like. The N. taracua, a termite found in French Guiana and the C. saundersi, an ant native in Malaysia actually do explode when predators come their way. Both insects have a small gland in their bodies that are filled with poison. The ants contract their abdomens which causes their poison gland to explode while the termites keep theirs in their backs like a backpack. Although they do die in the process, you can’t say they went down without putting up a fight.

Bombardier Beetles




Although it’s common for animals to excrete some kind of toxic or poisonous fluid to save themselves, the bombardier beetle shoots these noxious bodily fluids out of its anus. This beetle has two different glands, one stores hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinones and the other keeps a mixture of enzymes that causes the painful reaction. This reaction is hot enough to reach near boiling point.

Pygmy Sperm Whales




These adorable looking animals seem harmless and helpless to predators, but don’t be fooled, they actually have a trick up their tail which can save their lives. When threated by their natural predators, like orcas, they let out a dark colored fluid that comes from their anus. They use this like smoke screen. When the fluid is secreted, they use their tails to spread it around and make their escape.

Texas Horned Lizard




These lizards are well known for their strange defense mechanism that seems to have been taken straight out of a horror movie. They have the ability to increase the blood pressure around their head area which causes blood vessels around their eyes to rupture. This spurts out blood and other bodily fluids to a distance of around 5 feet. This does cause them to lose a third of their blood supply, but it’s enough to help them run off and survive.

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