Bioluminescence (light produced by biological organisms) can be entrancing. The soft glow of fireflies at night is a common sight in places around the world, but not all cases of bioluminescence are so peaceful.

Although the firefly uses its glow for communication and finding sexual partners, bioluminescence isn’t always an invitation. Sometimes, it is used as a diversion or as camouflage.

The natural world is a fierce place, and any advantage can mean the difference between life and death. These 10 examples of biological light are used by animals as a way to defend and deceive.

10 The Glowing Squirts Of The Pocket Shark

In a happy accident in 2010, researchers in the Gulf of Mexico were collecting samples for a study of sperm whale feeding and happened to capture a specimen of an entirely new species of pocket shark. These sharks are only 14 centimeters (5.5 in) long.

This one wasn’t recognized as a pocket shark until 2013 when the specimens collected were further examined. It’s an understandable mistake as the only other known type of pocket shark makes its home in the Pacific Ocean and not the Gulf of Mexico.

Out of the 500 or so species of sharks in the world, this newly discovered one has an unusual talent. Tucked next to each of its two front fins is a pouch filled with bioluminescent liquid. This glowing concoction can be released at will, creating small clouds of glowing . . . squirt.^[1]

The pocket shark uses these glow-in-the-dark clouds as bait for prey attracted to the light—like moths to a flame. Easily gathered prey ripe for the picking.

9 The Anglerfish’s Glowing Fishing Pole

The anglerfish (of which there are some 200 species) lives deep in the inhospitable oceans—so deep that sunlight cannot filter through the murk. But that’s all right because the anglerfish brings its own light.

Female anglerfish have a section of dorsal spine that sticks out from their foreheads like a fishing pole. On its tip is a glowing orb. As with other fishers, this pole has bait. The light attracts prey, and when they get in range, the anglerfish attacks with its massive crescent-shaped mouth filled with skinny, translucent teeth.

The anglerfish’s body is so pliable that it can consume prey up to twice as large as its own body. This is a feat because the largest anglerfish can grow more than 1 meter (3 ft) long.^[2]

8 The Hawaiian Bobtail Squid’s Million Army Invisibility

During the day, this bobtail squid hides in the sands off the coast of Hawaii. But at night, it must leave this safety to hunt while avoiding being eaten itself. It does this by means of some enlisted help.

In the Hawaiian bobtail squid’s mantle is an organ specially designed to harbor a culture of bacteria. But this is no infection. In fact, the Hawaiian bobtail squid invited these microorganisms less than a day after it was born by using a special mucus to attract the bacteria to its body.

The bacteria produce just enough light to perfectly match the illumination of the Moon in the ocean waters. This allows the Hawaiian bobtail squid to blend seamlessly into its surroundings and remain safely hidden from predators while on the hunt itself. All because of millions of small guests. Meanwhile, the bacteria benefit from the sugars and amino acids provided by the squid.^[3]

7 The Red Searchlight Of The Black Dragonfish

Most bioluminescence in the ocean is a blue color. Perhaps it’s no coincidence because those colors are easily visible to most ocean-dwelling creatures and shine far through the water. In contrast, red light is quickly absorbed by the ocean. Also, most animals are not equipped to perceive colors like red or yellow.

One notable exception is the black dragonfish. It produces a short wavelength color, like blue, and then filters it through a fluorescent pigment while still inside its body. This lengthens the light and turns it red before it is emitted into the ocean. But why bother when red light doesn’t travel far?^[4]

This dragonfish is special because it can produce red light as well as see it. Very few marine creatures can. This gives it a huge advantage when hunting for food. Its red spotlight allows it to see prey while the prey remains blissfully blind and ignorant. The black dragonfish produces light that only it can see, giving it a huge strategic advantage in ocean combat.

6 The Deadly Shine Of The Bioluminescent Octopus

With tentacles reaching 36 centimeters (14 in) from its body, the Stauroteuthis syrtensis, or bioluminescent octopus, is a beautiful sight for two immediately apparent reasons. The first is a webbing that connects its tentacles, giving it an imposing umbrellalike shape. The second noteworthy feature is that its suction cups are modified to emit a powerful twinkling blue-green light.

The purpose of this light is hard to determine because this octopus lives at depths up to 4,000 meters (13,100 ft) below the ocean’s surface. However, its diet primary consists of small planktonic crustaceans which have well-developed and sensitive eyes that are attracted to light sources.^[5]

This bioluminescent octopus likely dazzles the crustaceans with both sustained and pulsing lights. Once they’re close enough, it uses a mucous web to entrap the crustaceans and usher them to their fate.

5 The Cookiecutter Shark’s ‘Broken’ Camouflage

The cookiecutter shark employs a tactic similar to that of the Hawaiian bobtail squid, which uses light to vanish from predators by matching the light from above. Using photophores that are mostly on its stomach, the cookiecutter shark practices a method of counterillumination that hides its body from predators that would otherwise easily see and eat it.

The photophores mask the cookiecutter’s entire body—with one notable exception. Around its neck is a “collar” that has no photophores, creating a gap of counterillumination. Most of its body is concealed, except for this small portion of neck which is clearly visible.

This may seem like a design flaw because surely the most effective camouflage would be complete. But that gap in the shark’s camouflage turns its defensive ability into an offensive one.

As only a small section is left visible, it acts as a lure for would-be predators that believe they’re attacking a much smaller fish. However, these opportunists are not equipped to deal with the much larger reality.

When they attempt to eat the exposed neck, they are faced with the cookiecutter’s powerful suction and razor teeth. After the shark latches onto the would-be attacker, the cookiecutter spins its body wildly, scooping a section of flesh from its unsuspecting victim.^[6]

4 The Green Bombs Of The Swima Worms

On the seabed off the West Coast of the United States lives a genus of sea worms named Swima that are designed like a long rowboat. They have rows of fan-shaped bristles that they use as paddles to maneuver in the ocean depths.

These bristles give them their distinctive design, but their truly outstanding feature is found in a small cluster near their heads. Small green-colored gills give the Swima their nickname: “The Green Bombers.”

When the worm is attacked or disturbed, it detaches one of these green “bombs” and deploys it as a distraction. Once detached, the gill begins glowing an intense green to divert attention from the worm itself. Meanwhile, the Swima uses the opportunity to swim away from danger. All told, each worm comes equipped with about eight of these bombs at any given time.^[7]

3 The Squid Willing To Make Sacrifices

The Octopoteuthis deletron is a squid in the cold Pacific depths that takes the tactic favored by the green bomber to the extreme. To ward off its many predators, this squid is willing to make grave sacrifices for survival.

If put in a life-threatening situation, it latches onto its attacker with its limbs and then severs those limbs. While the squid attempts to flee, its sacrificed tentacles flail about and emit light, all in an attempt to distract the attacker long enough for the squid to get away.^[8]

It’s a dangerous gamble because regrowing limbs costs energy, which will be harder to come by when swimming and feeding with missing appendages. But as cephalopod researcher Stephanie Bush said, “The cost is less than being dead.”

2 The Milky Glow Of The Hitchhiker Bacteria

In 1995, the SS Lima, a British merchant vessel, encountered an expanse of the ocean that glowed a milky white color. For six hours, the vessel sailed through what the captain described as an expanse much like snow or clouds.

This stretch of glowing ocean may have felt like something out of a fairy tale, but it was actually the result of an enormous colony of bioluminescent bacteria. These glowing bacteria float freely in the ocean, though not usually in such large groups as the Lima encountered.

But glowing takes energy, and no life-form wants to waste its strength needlessly. As it turns out, the emission of light is an invitation. Most creatures on this list use their bioluminescence to avoid being eaten, but these ocean bacteria use it for the opposite.

The glow is an invitation to fish and squid to chow down on the bacteria. After all, a fish’s stomach is full of nutrients and the fish can carry the bacteria much farther than they could float alone.^[9]

1 The Fire-Spitting Shrimp

Acanthephyra purpurea is a species of shrimp that is not bioluminescent at all. In fact, it appears to be like an average shrimp. If you caught it on a calm day, it would have nothing to attract your attention. It has no photophores and no illumination from its body at all.

What it does have is a biological way to produce and store a chemical compound called luciferin. In the event of an attack, this shrimp spews out the luciferin in what would appear to be vomit to the layman.^[10]

When the chemical compound comes into contact with the ocean water’s oxygen, it creates a chemical reaction that glows. This luminous display looks almost like a blue fire. It should give the shrimp the distraction it needs to make a hasty retreat and live to spit fire another day.

The insanity defense might be a popular trope in fiction, but it is actually used in less than one percent of court cases and has only a 25 percent success rate. Some US states don’t even allow it anymore, but despite all that, it has worked on occasion, as you are about to see.

To be clear, we are not saying these people faked their mental illnesses or that they deserved to go to prison. Just that they all avoided prison or even death sentences because they were certified too insane to be responsible for their actions or, in some cases, even to stand trial.

10. Roderick Maclean

Queen Victoria was a real die-hard, in the truest sense of the word, having survived no fewer than eight attempts on her life during her long reign. By far, the most bizarre incident came courtesy of Roderick Maclean, who wanted to kill the queen because she didn’t like his poetry.

On March 2, 1882, the Royal Train arrived at Windsor rail station and Maclean was one of the many spectators waiting to see the queen. But he wanted to do a bit more than to shoot a glance her way. As Victoria was making her way across the platform to a waiting carriage, Maclean pulled out a revolver and fired at her. The first shot missed and two Eton schoolboys tackled the gunman before he was able to fire again.

Maclean stood accused of high treason, the most serious charge in the land which carried with it a death sentence. However, he had already been medically certified insane before the assassination attempt. Therefore, the jury only needed a few minutes of deliberation to find him “not guilty, but insane.”

Roderick Maclean had evaded a date with the hangman’s noose, although he spent the rest of his life at Broadmoor Asylum. A short while later, the Trial of Lunatics Act 1883 was passed by Parliament, which changed the verdict for future similar cases to “guilty, but insane.” 

9. Jeffrey Arenburg

In 1995, Canadian hockey fans were left stunned when they found out that former NHL player Brian Smith had been killed while leaving the CJOH television station in Ottawa where he worked as a sports anchor. The killer was Jeffrey Arenburg, a man with paranoid schizophrenia who believed that broadcast stations were transmitting thoughts into his head. Arenburg had a history of threatening violence against these stations, having previously been convicted for attacking a radio employee.

On August 1, 1995, he went to the CJOH TV station armed with a 22-caliber rifle. He had no grudge against Smith personally, Arenburg later admitted as much, but the sportscaster was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The gunman recognized Smith as he was leaving the building and shot him in the head.

Arenburg was charged with first-degree murder but was found “not criminally responsible” due to his mental state and placed in a mental care facility where he spent the next decade of his life before being released.

8. George Roden

Everyone remembers the bloody siege at Waco, Texas, in 1993 when the ATF, FBI, and Texas law enforcement officers surrounded the compound of the Branch Davidians sect led by David Koresh. What many people might not know is that Koresh got the job of cult leader by usurping the previous guy, George Roden.

Roden was the son of the man who founded the Branch Davidians, Benjamin Roden. He lost his position as leader in 1987 following a shootout with Koresh and his followers. He then lost legal ownership of the property due to unpaid taxes which the Branch Davidians paid off themselves, who then named Koresh their new head honcho.

Two years later, Roden murdered his roommate, a man named Wayman Dale Adair, ostensibly because he believed that Adair had been sent there by Koresh to kill him. Roden was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the final years of his life in several mental hospitals. In 1998, Roden escaped from the Big Spring State Hospital in Texas but was found by the side of the road a few days later, likely dead of a heart attack.

7. James Hadfield

Just to preempt a few comments, we are not talking about James Hetfield, lead singer of Metallica, but James Hadfield, the guy who tried to kill King George III in 1800.

A former dragoon in the British Army, Hadfield had sustained multiple head injuries while fighting in the War of the First Coalition against France. After that, he began suffering from various delusions, including that he was the true King George, that he was the biblical character Adam, or that he was even the “Supreme Being.” As to why he wanted the king dead, Hadfield believed that his own death would save the world, but that it could not be done by his own hand. Therefore, killing the king would ensure a swift meeting with the executioner.

His “foolproof” plan failed on two counts. First, he didn’t kill the king. On May 15, 1800, George III attended a show at the Theater Royal. Hadfield shot at him in the royal box but missed and was quickly tackled by the crowd. Second, he was not sentenced to death. Hadfield was defended by one of the best lawyers in all the land, Thomas Erskine, future Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, who successfully used the insanity defense for his client and got him a permanent stay at Bedlam.

6. Izola Curry

Ten years before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray, the civil rights activist survived another attempt on his life at the hands of a woman named Izola Curry. 

And yes, we might as well mention the first thing people notice whenever they hear about her – Izola Curry was Black. Her animosity towards Dr. King and the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, had nothing to do with race. Instead, she was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered delusions that King and other civil rights groups all banded against her to cost her jobs and that they were, in her own words, “mixed up with the Communists.”

On September 20, 1958, the 42-year-old Curry attended a book signing by King at Blumstein’s Department Store in Harlem and, when she approached him, stabbed the civil rights leader in the chest with a seven-inch letter opener. She also had a gun on her, in case the blade didn’t get it done, but she was tackled to the ground before she could finish the job.

King was rushed to the hospital where doctors saved his life. The tip of the blade was resting on his aorta, and one cough or sneeze could have punctured it and caused him to bleed out. Meanwhile, Izola Curry was found not competent to stand trial and committed to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

5. Richard Dadd

Most people remember Victorian artist Richard Dadd for his paintings, particularly the ones involving fairies. However, many of those people might not be aware that Dadd did most of his work while incarcerated in two of England’s most notorious mental institutions, Bedlam and Broadmoor.

His problems started in 1842 when the 25-year-old Dadd embarked on a grand tour of Europe and the Middle East. While in Egypt, he suffered a personality change which, at first, was attributed to sunstroke. However, Dadd developed a delusion that he was the son of Osiris and that his actual father must have been some kind of demonic impostor. Back in England, Dadd murdered his father as the two went on a walk together. He tried to flee to France but was arrested in Paris after assaulting another man and sent back to England.

Dadd was certified a “criminal lunatic” and evaded a death sentence. Instead, he was committed to psychiatric hospitals where he spent the next four decades of his life, quietly working on his paintings.

4. Laura Fair

The case of Laura Fair was a highly publicized and controversial one because it had a lot of elements that still shocked 19th-century America whenever they were brought up in public: women’s rights, mental illness, extramarital affairs, and even menstruation. 

On the surface, it looked like a standard tale of revenge from a jilted lover. On November 3, 1870, 33-year-old Laura Fair boarded a San Francisco ferry and shot her married paramour, lawyer Alexander Crittenden, after finding out that he intended to leave town with his family instead of divorcing his wife and marrying her as he promised.

Her trial became somewhat of a media sensation. Her defense team claimed that the shooting was the result of temporary insanity caused by a severely painful menstrual cycle. They even brought in medical experts to testify, but the jury was more swayed by the prosecution who portrayed Fair as an immoral woman and a homewrecker. They found her guilty and sentenced to hang.

However, with the help of several prominent suffragettes who took up Laura Fair’s cause, her lawyers successfully appealed and got the first trial thrown out on the grounds that the way the prosecution portrayed their client prejudiced the jury. The second trial went in her favor as the jury found her innocent and Laura Fair became a free woman, one of the few people on this list who did not end up in a mental institution.

3. Daniel Sickles

Daniel Sickles was a Major General in the Civil War, later serving as a member of Congress and an ambassador to Spain. But before all of that, Sickles was also the first American to successfully use the “temporary insanity” defense after he killed his wife’s lover in broad daylight, right across from the White House.

Sickles’ wife Teresa was having an affair with lawyer Philip Barton Key II, the son of Francis Scott Key, the man who wrote the words to the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Then, on February 27, 1859, Sickles approached Key in Lafayette Square and shot him three times. Key died a short while later while Sickles surrendered peacefully.

The case seemed like a slam dunk. After all, Sickles confessed to the deed and plenty of people saw him do it. However, his top-notch defense team had other ideas. They not only argued that Sickles went temporarily mad upon discovering the affair, but that he acted justified to protect his wife’s honor. As his lawyer put it, “the death of Key was a cheap sacrifice to save one mother from the horrible fate.”

As it turned out, the jury agreed. They returned a verdict of “not guilty” after an hour of deliberation to the raucous cheers of the courtroom, who were now firmly on Sickles’ side. 

2. John Hinckley Jr.

John Hinckley Jr. earned worldwide notoriety on March 30, 1981, when he tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He ended up wounding Reagan and three other men before being restrained and then attacked by onlookers.

The reason for his actions seemed to be an obsession with the movie Taxi Driver, specifically its young star, Jodie Foster. Hinckley started acting like protagonist Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro – talking like him, dressing like him, writing a diary like him, and developing a fascination with guns. He also began stalking Jodie Foster, even moving to New Haven, Connecticut while she was attending Yale. Although he never approached her, Hinckley wrote numerous letters and poems to Foster, but when these failed to make an impression, he decided he needed to do something more drastic – assassinate the president.

During his trial, Hinckley’s only chance was the insanity defense. Both sides argued in their favor. The defense diagnosed him with schizophrenia. The prosecution argued that his actions were clearly premeditated and came from a sound mind.

After much back and forth, the jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity. He was institutionalized for almost 35 years before being released in 2016. His verdict caused a huge uproar in America and brought on the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 which made it much harder for this defense to be used during trials, while some states abolished it altogether.

1. Daniel M’Naghten

We finally arrive at the guy who started it all… at least in modern times – Daniel M’Naghten, a Scottish woodworker who tried to assassinate British Prime Minister Robert Peel in 1843 and ended up killing Peel’s personal secretary, Edward Drummond.

M’Naghten had developed paranoid delusions that he was being persecuted by the Tory Party because he voted for the opposition. His police statement after shooting Drummond said this:

“The Tories in my native city have compelled me to do this. They follow and persecute me wherever I go and have entirely destroyed my peace of mind. They followed me to France, into Scotland, and all over England; in fact, they follow me wherever I go. I cannot sleep nor get no rest from them…. I believe they have driven me into consumption. I am sure I shall never be the man I was. I used to have good health and strength, but I have not now. They have accused me of crimes of which I am not guilty; in fact, they wish to murder me. It can be proved by evidence. That’s all I have to say.”

M’Naghten’s legal team argued that their client had a case of monomania – an insane fixation on a certain issue or person – and that it was so severe that it eradicated his ability to tell right from wrong. The prosecution brought in two doctors of their own, but they also concluded that M’Naghten was insane, and therefore the jury found him to be not guilty by reason of insanity.

This set a legal precedent in British law history and the appearance of the M’Naghten Rule, which stated that, in order for a defendant to use the insanity defense, it must be proved that they were acting under a defect of reason caused by a “disease of the mind” which made them not understand the nature of their actions or that they were wrong.

Self-defense is big business. You could learn boxing, jiu-jitsu, krav maga and dozens of other fighting styles. You can also invest in tools that range from telescoping batons to tasers to high-powered rifles. If you want to defend yourself, the sky’s the limit. Animals, on the other hand, have far less at their disposal. Most rely on their ability to flee or hide and those that fight typically just use teeth and claws. But every so often an animal comes up with a really novel way to protect itself.

10. Exploding Ants Blow Up On Enemies

No one can tell you exactly how many ants there are in the world and for good reason – how would anyone ever know? Even estimates can be pretty wild, but some guess around 100 trillion. Fire ants have painful stings and bullet ants are legendary for the paint that their bites cause. But even among ants, you have to hand it to exploding ants when it comes to self defense. Their name makes it pretty clear these little things are on a whole new level. 

Found in the trees of Borneo, these ants react to threats in the most dramatic way imaginable. Known as Colobopsis explodens, the ants are able to rupture their own bodies by flexing them so hard they burst in a process that not only kills them but covers their attack in a sticky and toxic mixture of internal fluids. The process will either kill or disable the attacker.

9. Sea Cucumbers Shoot Their Guts at Enemies

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. And the best offense is to be incredibly disgusting. Enter the sea cucumber and its gut regurgitation method of defense that may not be physically damaging but, if nothing else, is psychologically traumatizing to would-be attackers.

Though some species do vaguely resemble cucumbers, sea cucumbers are classified as echinoderms. They are invertebrates, which means they don’t have a spinal column like shellfish, worms, jellyfish and so on. What they do have is a digestive system and, when threatened, they can force it right out of their bodies at predators.  

A shark is able to puke its own stomach out as a way of cleaning it and then swallow it again, but that’s not how a sea cucumber works. Once those guts come out, they stay out. The animal is then able to just grow new ones. It takes a couple of weeks, but it beats being eaten. 

8. Bees Cook Wasps Or Resort to Poop

Most of us don’t need to be told how a bee defends itself. Bee stings are fairly well known and they’re the reason most of us don’t go stealing honey from hives like we’re bears in the woods. Less well known is what a bee has to do when its sting is not sufficient to take out an enemy.

Giant Asian Wasps have become an infamous species over the last decade or two thanks to the internet and its fascination with unusual life forms. These giant, terrifying insects are known to attack beehives, and just a few can destroy everything. They literally cut bees apart with their mandibles and the bee’s sting is unable to pierce the wasp’s exoskeleton. So how does a hive react when the wasps attack? They form a super hot sphere of bee power and cook their attacker to death.

The bees will swarm on the deadly wasps en masse. Though the wasp will kill many individuals, the hive may be able to survive as the group all work together to beat their wings and generate heat from the effort. They can raise the temperature of a wasp to as much as 47 degrees Celsius, which kills it. Amazingly, the bees are able to properly regulate this temperature so that it’s hot enough to kill a wasp, but not themselves, which could happen if things were just a few degrees warmer.

Some species of wasps have learned to avoid these heat balls by picking off drones outside of the hive until there are no bees left to defend it. But the bees have also adapted to this. Beekeepers have observed honey bees gathering buffalo dung. They place it around the entrance to the hive, something that they would normally never do. Dung is often dangerous thanks to pathogens, and it effectively keeps wasps away. Even when wasps do try to attack a dung-defended hive, they spend 94% less time doing so. 

7. Vultures Projectile Vomit When Threatened

Vultures are considered by many to be rather ugly birds with their bald heads and hooked beaks. They also seem rather objectionable when it comes to their habits, since they feed on carrion and can most often be seen neck deep in a rotten carcass. They also slather themselves in their own waste to keep cool. Their highly acidic urine will lower their temperature as it evaporates and also kills bacteria.  It probably comes as no surprise that their chief method of self defense is also extremely unpleasant.

When threatened, a vulture will force itself to vomit. That’s pretty awful in and of itself. But remember that they eat already rotten meat, so when it vomits it’s throwing up the most vile filth you can imagine. Not only is it going to look gross and smell gross, it’s laden with the bird’s extremely volatile digestive juices which are so potent they can burn. 

This spray of vomit is also projectile and can travel upwards of 10 feet. And while all of that makes it seem like these birds are wretched in every way, remember that they provide a valuable service by cleaning up all that carrion and we’d likely have far more disease and bacteria being spread around if it weren’t for them. 

6. Crested Rats Slather Themselves in Poison 

Humans are renowned for using ingenuity to get a job done, and there are a handful of animals that demonstrate similar talents. Monkeys use tools, coyotes and badgers hunt together, there are a lot of ways to reach a goal. When it comes to African crested rats, they go above and beyond to defend themselves from predators by engaging in chemical warfare.

The rats have been observed chewing on the poisonous bark of certain trees. Once they work up a nice mouthful of toxic spit, they wipe it on their fur, effectively giving themselves a poisonous shield. Similar behavior does exist elsewhere in nature. There are species of toxic toads that get their toxins from the insects they eat, but this is the only mammal known to engage in such behavior. 

Initially, the rats were thought to make their poison until one single rat was observed chewing the bark and wiping the toxins on itself. Researchers then captured some to house them under constant surveillance, and many of them were observed engaging in the same behavior, though exactly why the rat itself is immune is not entirely understood. It may be thanks to their four-chambered stomach full of dense bacteria, but it’s not conclusive. 

5. Spanish Ribbed Newts Force Their Ribs Out and Coat Them in Poison

The Spanish ribbed newt has bug eyes and grows to about 9 inches in length. They look a little cartoonish in real life and aren’t very intimidating, but perhaps that’s just a plot. When it comes to self defense, few creatures go as hard as the ribbed newt. When threatened, the newt is able to freeze and rotate its own ribs inside its body from 27 to 92 degrees relative to its spinal axis. The ribs push right out of the newt’s skin through fleshy warts and are then coated with a poisonous secretion.

In pop culture terms, the newt is like Wolverine if he also poisoned his claws. There is no permanent hole that allows the ribs to protrude. The newt has to pierce its own flesh each and every time it uses the defense. 

4. Blanket Octopuses Rip the Poisonous Arms of Portuguese Man O’Wars

The ocean is full of strange and terrifying creatures more than capable of defending themselves in a variety of ways. From the claws of a crab to the jaws of a shark, you don’t want to tangle with too many beasts of the deep blue sea. Some of the most formidable creatures rely on a bevy of debilitating and deadly toxins that can stop a predator, including a human, with remarkable speed and efficiency.

The blanket octopus has developed a backdoor to its down defenses. Unlike the deadly blue-ringed octopus, a blanket octopus doesn’t produce potent venom. Instead, they will steal weapons from the Portuguese man o’war. 

The man o’war, often mistaken for a jellyfish though it’s actually a siphonophore, has dangerous, stinging tentacles. They’re not usually deadly to humans, but they can cause blisters and welts and are powerful enough to kill small fish. Blanket octopuses are immune, however. They’ll rip the tentacles right off the man o’war and then wield them like toxic whips either to attack or defend themselves.

3. Hoopoe Birds Use Filth as a Defense

Many birds have a pretty decent cache of defensive skills available, chief among them the ability to just fly away. Some birds are also equipped with dangerously powerful beaks and talons as well. But what of the smaller, more delicate ones? What happens when they face danger?

The Eurasian Hoopoe grows to be maybe a foot long and weighs less than a deck of cards. These are not fearsome creatures. So to stay ahead of predators, they’ll smear their own eggs with secretions that smell rotten, and poop all over their own nests. 

Females coat themselves in the secretion, which comes from a gland below the tail. Despite the smell, it’s antimicrobial and makes her feathers more waterproof and flexible. Within six days of hatching, babies are able to fire projectile feces at predators in their own defense as well.  

2. Numerous Kinds of Larvae Make Poop Shields

Turtles, armadillos and shellfish have a good defensive advantage in life thanks to their armor. Other creatures aren’t so blessed genetically, so they have to get creative. Take the tortoise beetle, for instance, which creates a shield out of its own feces to protect it from attackers. 

Many other species of beetle do the same thing in larval form as a means of protection before they grow their own tough carapace. The strategy is oddly ingenious, as it uses a resource that the beetle never runs short of and it’s something very few predators want to get near. The tortoise beetle can even move their shield and attack would-be predators with it like a weapon. 

1. Bombardier Beetles Shoot Boiling Chemicals 

Bugs are generally disliked by most people and the fact that many bite or sting is a big part of that. But a bug that eschews such pedestrian attacks in favor of literally shooting you with scalding hot chemicals is its own special kind of terrifying.

Bombardier beetles are less than an inch long, possibly the only saving grace for these powerhouses. When threatened, a chemical reaction occurs in their abdomen. Hydrogen peroxide mixes with hydroquinone. The beetle has a little nozzle on its backside that it can aim with amazing accuracy to fire at a predator. And you don’t want to be on the receiving end of that blast.

The two chemicals together can irritate the eyes and respiratory system. Worse, the reaction creates heat, so not only is it an irritant, it comes out literally boiling hot at 100 degrees Celsius. The beetle has enough chemicals to fire this 20 times.