They say it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and that’s just if you’re a dog. They’re cute and can get away with simple things like that. Other creatures are not so lucky so when it comes to self-defense they need to up their game. While most animals in the world rely on things like teeth and claws, camouflage, speed, or subterfuge for defense, a few take things to the next level. Some have even resorted to biological methods of modern warfare with projectile and explosive weaponry.
10. Bombardier Beetles Shoot Boiling Chemical Bombs
You can’t talk about creatures that employ artillery as a defense mechanism without mentioning the bombardier beetle. These tiny bugs pack a full-on chemical weapon punch for anything foolish enough to eat them that is reminiscent of the premise behind the explosives used in Die Hard with a Vengeance, which gives the beetle tons of extra street cred.
Inside the beetle’s abdomen are two sacks. One contains hydrogen peroxide. The other is hydroquinone. You’re probably familiar with hydrogen peroxide as most of us have it in a medicine cabinet or first aid kit. Hydroquinone is also used cosmetically as a skin-lightening agent that reduces melanin. They’re typically pretty safe, too.
When the beetle is threatened, it shoots these chemicals out of its backside mixed with a third compound that acts as a catalyst and causes an instant chemical reaction. The two normally benign chemicals mix and form boiling water and benzoquinone. The spray and gas mixture hits the beetle’s target at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius, the temperature of boiling water.
Small creatures like other insects will be killed immediately. Larger creatures can be blinded and even a human will be burned and scarred. This is because of the temperature but also the caustic nature of the chemicals which can affect the respiratory system, as well.
The beetles have enough juice to fire off about 20 bursts before they run out and they’re also known to have impeccable aim. The orifice through which they fire the mixture has a full 270 degrees of movement to aid in aiming at predators, too, meaning there aren’t a lot of safe ways to come at a bombardier beetle.
9. Velvet Worms Shoot Slime From Biological Gun Turrets
In the animal kingdom, being blind doesn’t mean you can’t shoot your shot when it counts. Velvet worms live in forests and jungles around the world and there are over 200 species of them. They have developed a unique defensive ability which has been described as a “silly string of death,” so you know it has to be good.
The worms feel changes in air currents to know when prey is nearby and then, when they get close enough, two nozzles extend from their head to fire foot-long ropes of goo. The substance coats its target and dries quickly, rooting the victim in place. It can also be used defensively to escape a predator, either holding a small predator in place or, at the very least, slowing one down as it deals with a face full of fast-drying sludge.
Once trapped, the worm can approach its prey and use a knife-like protrusion in its mouth to slice a hole in it. They then fill the trapped snack with digestive saliva which will liquify it and allow the worm to slurp it up instead of doing anything messy like chewing.
8. Hagfish Expel Slime That Expands 10,000 Times
The velvet worm may think he’s hot stuff with his little slime ropes but the hagfish is the unparalleled slime goat of the animal kingdom. These off-putting creatures have no jaws, no spines, live on the ocean floor, and have changed little in 500 million years. But none of that is why they’re famous.
When threatened, hagfish produce slime. It’s a defense mechanism meant to fend off a predator to prevent the fish from being eaten. So far so good. But the hagfish slime is unlike anything you can imagine. Their bodies are covered in glands that expel mucus and miles and miles of thread-like compounds to ward off predators. As soon as this stuff hits the seawater it expands at a staggering rate. The slime will grow 10,000 times in an instant, turning the water into Jell-O in the blink of an eye.
If a predator is trying to eat a hagfish, it will have to immediately back off or deal with suffocation as its mouth and gills are overwhelmed with sludge it can’t breathe and can’t escape. Not only is the substance incredibly soft it’s stretchy and remarkably strong, so you can just break through it to get free.
7. Sea Cucumbers Shoot Internal Organs From Their Anus
Sea cucumbers aren’t winning any beauty contests soon but they do attract a lot of attention for their unusual self-defense strategy. They use their butts as a cannon and fire out their insides.
There are variations in how this works depending on the kind of sea cucumber. Some of them shoot out internal organs, kind of like a fighter jet releasing flares to attract enemy missiles, that will then grow back later. Others fire off strands of a sticky substance that can snare their potential predators while the cucumber escapes.
In the latter case, the threads released are called a Cuvierian organ. These tubes are attached to the organs the cucumber uses to breathe, which they do through their butts. If a predator comes along and tries to eat the cucumber, the organs are ejected and expand as they fill with seawater.
Because they’re sticky like a spider web, they can snare the attacker and sometimes even kill it if they can’t break free.
6. Texas Horned Lizards Shoot Blood Out of Their Eyes
Sometimes looking hardcore and dangerous is not enough to convince a predator to leave you alone. The Texas horned lizard, for instance, looks like a dangerous little foe for any predator. His back is covered with those aforementioned horns making it look like a modern-day dragon. It’s also really well camouflaged when hiding in sandy, rocky areas in and around its habitat. But it still has a hidden defense in case horns and hiding don’t work.
Because horned lizards are pretty small, about the size of a bullfrog, they are vulnerable to larger predators even with their spikes. To fend off these creatures, the lizard will shoot a jet of its blood out of its eyes, like some kind of horror movie come to life.
When threatened, blood flow to the lizard’s head is restricted. This causes the ocular sinus to fill as the pressure builds. The lizard can then contract the muscles around its eyes and cause the sinus to burst outward, shooting a jet of blood as far as five feet. They can do it multiple times as well.
Few animals like being squirted, just try squirting your cat with a water bottle sometime, so the tactic can be fairly effective. Also, the blood apparently tastes bad, so it helps convince predators to move on.
5. Northern Fulmar Gulls Use Vomit As a Defense
When it comes to forcibly firing something at a predator or prey, biology only gives us so many options. Whatever is being shot has to come out of some sort of orifice and most life forms only have so many to choose from. With northern fulmar gulls it’s the mouth. And the ammunition they fire comes from the most obvious place you can think of – the stomach. These gulls have weaponized vomit.
The stomachs of the fulmar gulls contain an oil that is described as being both foul and sticky, so we’re off to a good start. If a predator bird comes to their nests, the birds can vomit on them to force them away. But their use of this weapon is more insidious than just being disgusting.
When the gulls vomit on other birds, it strips away the coating that sea birds need on their feathers to stay afloat. It can also mat the feathers in such a way that the bird can no longer fly, which is essentially a death sentence for any bird.
4. Archerfish Shoot Prey With Water Jets
We’ve already covered a couple of underwater creatures that have fired off effective defenses while being submerged, but the archerfish is a little different. While it lives in the water like any other fish, its weapon is meant for prey on the land and in the air.
Described as an “anti-aircraft gun,” the archerfish can fire a jet of water into the air to knock prey from the sky or from off of plants hanging over the water. Once the prey falls into the water, the fish can swoop in and swallow it whole.
The fish are just a few inches long so their prey isn’t particularly big – usually just tasty-looking flies or crickets. But the archerfish can spy them from the depths, rise to the surface, and fire off a jet to a distance of several feet with amazing accuracy so much so that they can tag insects in flight.
Even if the aim is a little off, the archerfish is working with an automatic weapon. On a single mouthful of water, it can fire up to seven shots in quick succession to hit its target. Studies have shown that the fish likely won’t need this, though, since they rarely miss.
3. Spitting Spiders Spit Silk at Prey
Arachnophobia is a common fear among humans and you have to assume smaller insects are terrified of spiders as well. The webs and the venom make them formidable predators. The only upside is that many of them are passive and even the aggressive ones need to chase prey. Except for spitting spiders.
As the name suggests, spitting spiders can fire off a spit attack at prey. The spit attacks travel at 30 meters per second which is over 67 miles per hour. It snares the prey with silk, trapping it in place so the spider can quickly inject it with venom.
2. There’s An Exploding Species of Termite
In the jungles of French Guiana, there’s a species of termite that spends its entire life waiting to die. Philosophically, you could make that argument about any living thing. But these guys take it to an explosive new level.
As these termites age, their body secretes a blue liquid produced by a pair of specialized glands. The liquid crystalizes in an abdominal pouch and it just stays there. More and more of it builds up as the termite ages such that the oldest termites will have an unhealthy dose of this stuff that they may never use. But then again they might.
If the colony is attacked, the oldest termites become the front line of defense. Because they’re older, these termites are less useful to the colony as foragers and workers. Their mandibles dull over time, making them slower and less useful. But their blue crystals give them value still.
When threatened, the termite can force their pouch full of crystals to explode. It mixes with their saliva to create a toxic solution that can paralyze and kill attacking termites. The older the termite, the more potent the reaction and though the termite also dies, it does so to protect the younger members of the colony.
1. Pygmy Sperm Whales Shoot Poop Clouds
Whales rarely have a lot to worry about in terms of predators, except for humans. In the wild, few animals challenge a whale simply because of its size. But that only counts for large whales and not all of them get to monumental size. Take pygmy sperm whales, for instance. At eight to 14 feet they’re not outside the range of what a shark or orca whale might attack.
To escape predators, pygmy sperm whales have evolved a unique sort of smoke bomb defense. Except instead of smoke it’s poop. Inside their intestines is a sack filled with a dark, reddish-brown liquid. In a pinch they can shoot out three gallons of the sludge which produces an ink cloud like a squid, giving the whale time to flee.