Many representatives of the animal world of our planet are endowed with completely unusual methods of protection. This is both an expedient structure of the body, and defensive behavior, which provides a living creature with safety, and passive-defensive reactions (such as the use of protective coloration and form).
Sometimes nature clearly warns that you have met a dangerous creature, but sometimes quite peaceful in appearance, inconspicuous creatures can cause a lot of trouble, using their hidden secret weapon for the time being.
The most interesting way of self-defense is used by the brachinus beetle living in Africa, which is also called the bombardier.
This creature is capable of aiming at the enemy with a stream of burning liquid having a boiling water temperature and composition corresponding to that used in binary chemical weapons.
In appearance, brachinus is completely harmless. Nature has not endowed the bug with any marks testifying to its extraordinary abilities and to the fact that it emits an "explosive mixture" not just once, but with powerful rapid-fire volleys. Therefore, many insectivores, when meeting with this creature, strive to immediately include it in their menu.
Only already lying on the ground with bulging eyes and burnt oral mucosa does the predator realize that he was wrong and made a mistake with the choice of the “dish”. In the future, the aggressor will prefer to bypass the literally explosive beetle by the tenth road. Brachinus also obtains food for itself by an original method: it shoots drops of liquid from the abdomen, with which, like artillery shells, it knocks down flies.
Scientists call this insect a direct challenge to the theory of evolution. A real "chemical laboratory" works in his body. An explosive mixture - hydroquinone (aka the substrate of respiration) and a 25% solution of hydrogen peroxide - is produced by a special pair of glands. Both substances enter a storage bag with a valve and an opening muscle.
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The third additional iron produces a special respiratory enzyme-catalyst hydroquinone oxidase, which is necessary for the components stored in the storage bag to undergo an oxidation reaction. The enzyme is contained in a so-called reactor chamber lined with fabrics very similar in properties to asbestos.
At that moment, when the situation requires decisive action from the insect, the contents of the storage bag are thrown into the chamber and … the immediately boiled substance with a noise that resembles a shot from a scarecrow flies out of the rear end of the insect's abdomen and turns into a small puff of acrid "smoke".
So, shooting back from the ground beetle, the brachinus releases 12-15 "chemical volleys" with a small interval. And in the event of a collision with a more dangerous enemy, the beetle is capable of producing from 500 to 1000 emissions per second! Such "shelling" leaves serious burns on the attacker's body.
By the way, scientists are convinced that such an original and effective apparatus of attack and defense did not "develop gradually" in the process of evolution (the very first insects that decided to play with fire would have died without having had time to improve this weapon), but was part of the beetle's body from the moment it appeared of this type. So, evolution has nothing to do with it, and there is Someone who supplied a harmless and defenseless creature with a flamethrower? Perhaps, as always, we missed something in the structure of the universe.
The field horse beetle also has the ability to actively protect its life. At the moment of danger, this insect prefers to simply run away to hell. At the same time, the baby not only flies quickly, but also runs perfectly. For a predator, catching such a sprinter lunch is not too much fun. Moreover, it is practically impossible to achieve a positive result of hunting in this case. But if the field horse can be caught, it will not bring joy either.
The beetle will begin to violently escape and bite furiously. The sickle-shaped powerful jaws of an insect can cause trouble even for humans, not to mention other representatives of the fauna! The bear behaves in a similar way in critical situations. But the earwig does not try to run. Instead, she takes on a menacing look and lifts the ends of imposing pincers above her head. By the way, they are so strong that they pierce a person's skin to blood.
To frighten predators and to hunt, many insects prefer to use poisons - secretions of special glands that can scare away, paralyze or kill the enemy. Wasps, bees, bumblebees and ants are familiar to everyone. These creatures received from nature as a gift special stings for injecting poison.
True, in a honey bee it is serrated and therefore gets stuck in the body of the attacker; the bee dies. So in this case we can talk not about individual, but about social protection, which develops a persistent reflex in others in relation to a whole species of insects. But the wasp can calmly sting many times in its life. And to remind you that there is a poisonous creature in front of you, nature has endowed bees and wasps with a special warning coloring.
As for ants, representatives of some species of these insects not only pour formic acid on the enemy, but also add a mixture of two complex chemical compounds to the caustic "cocktail".
They are specially synthesized in the insect's body and have a pleasant lemon scent.
This mixture is poisonous in itself, moreover, it promotes the penetration of formic acid through the outer covers of the animal. It is interesting that in the "chemical laboratory" of the little aggressor, not only "weapons" are created, but also many protective substances. Some of them can cope with the causative agents of cholera, tuberculosis and typhoid!
The ant doesn't have to bite the enemy. Many hit the enemy at a decent distance, spraying a poisonous mixture. For example, worker ants from the furmicin subfamily are capable of “shelling” an aggressor half a meter away from them! This distance is 500 times the length of the body of the warrior insect itself.
With the help of poison, leaf beetles are also protected. They release a yellow-orange liquid with a pungent odor through the joints of their bodies. A microscopic dose of this substance, entering the bloodstream, kills a small animal. Larger enemies of the leaf beetle have big health problems, so that in case of recovery, the reflex to the "inedibility" of the beetle is developed.
Biologists had to observe how a toad or a lizard, who accidentally grabbed this insect, try to spit it out as soon as possible, and then long and thoroughly wipe their tongues and muzzles on various objects and plants.
Scolopendra are also seriously "armed". Poisonous centipedes living in Africa, according to eyewitnesses, reach 47 centimeters in length. But we can reliably speak only of 5-30 cm specimens. Usually, these creatures sit in the ground or under a stone, waiting for prey - spiders, worms, cockroaches.
Scolopendra venom also kills frogs and lizards, who thoughtlessly tried to bite with a centipede. But the mouse already has a chance to survive. After a scolopendra bite, a person feels general malaise, pain and fever. A serious threat to children is represented only by giant individuals that bite into the neck with poisonous leg jaws.
Blister beetles, despite their small size, are very dangerous. Their venom is so strong that even large domestic animals, eating this crumb along with the grass, often die.
In the old days, dried blisters were used by pharmacists to make an abscess plaster.
Some wingless hulk grasshoppers are protected by poisonous foam. In case of danger, foam begins to creep from their mouth and chest with a hissing hiss - a mixture of quinine, air bubbles and phenol. The larvae of cicadas do the same. But the sawfly larvae have an even more original "weapon" against aggressors.
Eating on needles, they collect tree resin in special bags associated with the intestines. At the moment of danger, the caterpillar allocates a piece of "strategic reserve", inflates it and shoots at the enemy. The glue sticks together the legs of ants and makes the birds lose interest in such "nervous" prey.
In addition to poison, the smell can also scare off predators. And not any, but especially unpleasant. In the "arsenal" of many insects there are special glands responsible for the formation of a secret, which emits a rare stench and leaves the enemy with long memories of the meeting.
To scare away enemies, insects often use some behavioral techniques. For example, the Apollo butterfly, in case of extreme danger, falls to the ground, begins to cross its legs and hiss threateningly. At the same time, she strenuously spreads her wings, on which there is a sign notifying the attacker that the insect is poisonous - bright red spots.
But the praying mantis, if necessary, rises, takes a threatening pose, spreads its hind wings, begins to creak its belly and click its grasping legs. After that, there are few who want to get acquainted with the main "argument" of the praying mantis - its jaws. Defensive postures (often in combination with a repelling smell or poison) are also widely used by various caterpillars.
Marine life also know how to defend against attack. Many of them are extremely poisonous. Needles, skin, mucus, special stinging threads, unexpectedly sharp "scalpels", filled with poisons, before which the capabilities of even the famous curare pale - all this "arsenal" of a number of representatives of the sea people is dangerous not only for animals, but also for humans. And the electric ray is quite capable, if not kill, then stun its victim. As for the electric eel, it is better not to meet such a “living power plant”!
Unlike other "armed" inhabitants of the sea, the octopus is a completely intelligent creature. He does not try to stun the enemy with an electric shock or treat him with a horse dose of poison. If the cephalopod encounters danger, it prefers … to evaporate, releasing a dark cloud. The ink-like liquid that the octopus “shoots out of a special bag quickly dissolves into a dirty fog, hiding the sea creature's escape routes.
True, there is no rule without exceptions. Extremely cute, but malevolent tiny ringed octopus, a resident of the Indian Ocean, can cause death. Its poison, injected with a sharp "beak", causes paralysis of the heart muscle in a matter of seconds.
Snakes - a separate article. Many of the reptiles are dangerous because of their venom. At the same time, there are individuals that can cause big trouble or even kill both with a bite and … spitting! But among the poisonous creatures, the famous black mamba stands out, "from the bite of which a person dies five minutes before the bite."
Believe me, this is just the case when there is only a fraction of a joke in a joke … And non-venomous individuals - by the way, the vast majority of them - use serious muscle force to attack, which allows the snake to strangle the prey. Some lizards and representatives of the spider family are also endowed with "secret weapons", such as the infamous "black widow", crosses, tarantulas and scorpions.
In mammals, too, you can find unusual ways of self-defense.
Skunk mammals are perhaps the most famous for their protection from predators. Skunks don't usually try to hide from enemies. Instead, the animal first raises its fluffed tail and sometimes stomps on the ground with its paws.
If the warning does not help, the skunk turns its back to the enemy and "shoots" an oily yellowish liquid at him, usually aiming at him in the eyes. Some skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are capable of hitting the enemy from a distance of more than 6 m.
This liquid is the secret of two glands located to the right and left of the anus of the skunk, and is a mixture of sulfur-containing organic substances (methane and butanethiols (mercaptans)), which have an extremely strong, persistent and unpleasant odor. The muscles surrounding the mouths of the glands make it possible to shoot a secret at a distance of 2-3 m. The main component of the skunk "jet" - butylselenomercaptan (C4H9SeH) - can be determined even in the amount of 0.000000000002 g.
If it gets into the eyes, this liquid causes a burning sensation and even temporary blindness. However, the skunk's glands contain only 5-6 “charges” of liquid, and it takes about 10 days to restore them, so the skunk spends “charges” reluctantly, preferring to scare off potential predators with its contrasting coloring and threatening poses. As a rule, skunks are attacked by young predators unfamiliar with their method of protection. The exception is the Virginia eagle owl, which systematically hunts skunks.
The smell of a skunk is so persistent that spoiled clothing usually has to be burned. Folk remedies like tomato juice, vinegar or gasoline do not destroy the smell, but only mask it. Dry cleaners use hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to combat it.
The platypus is one of the few venomous mammals (along with some shrews and gnats that have toxic saliva, and fat lorises, the only known venomous primate genus).
Young platypuses of both sexes have rudiments of horny spurs on their hind legs. In females, by the age of one year, they disappear, and in males they continue to grow, reaching 1.2-1.5 cm in length by the time of puberty. Each spur is connected by a duct to the femoral gland, which produces a complex "cocktail" of poisons during the mating season.
Males use spurs during mating matches. Platypus venom can kill a dingo or other small animal. For a person, it is generally not fatal, but it causes very severe pain, and edema develops at the injection site, which gradually spreads to the entire limb. Painful sensations (hyperalgesia) can last for many days or even months.
Other oviparous - echidnas - also have rudimentary spurs on their hind legs, but they are not developed and are not poisonous.
Fat Lorises are the only known genus of venomous primates and one of only seven known venomous mammals. The poison is secreted by the glands on the forelimbs.
Mixed with saliva, the poison is either smeared over the head to scare away predators, or it stays in the mouth, allowing the loris to bite especially painfully. The poison of fat lorises can cause suffocation and death not only in small animals, but even in humans.
So, many of our "smaller brothers" own a whole arsenal of sometimes very unexpected means of defense and attack. Thus, nature made life easier for them and made larger predators respect the little "warriors".
