Whether it’s the strike of a peacock mantis shrimp or the bite force of a great white shark, animal weapons have evolved through natural selection because they enabled a species to survive or reproduce.
However, some weapons are weirder than others, as these animals prove.
- “Effects range from internal bleeding to manipulating behaviour or liquifying a host.” These are the deadliest weapons in the animal kingdom
- There's an animal in French Guiana that blows itself up when faced with danger
Weirdest weapons in the animal world
Venomous legs
The male platypus has spurs on its hind legs that deliver a painful but non-lethal venom, which is used for dominance during combat in mating season.
- Meet the world's most confusing animal, the platypus: It's venomous, has an electric organ, glows in the dark and sweats milk...
- Why one of the world's strangest animals – the confusing-looking duck-billed platypus – was sent to Winston Churchill during the war
Bone claws
Like the superhero Wolverine without his metal skeleton, the hairy frog has retractable bone claws that burst through skin after breaking its own toes.
- It breaks its own bones in the battle for a mate, can regenerate and is oddly hairy – meet this bizarre 'Wolverine'-like creature
- Bizarrest frogs you (probably) haven't heard of – from ultrasonic screamers to a species that glue themselves together when mating
Insect bodyguards
Acacia trees live in symbiotic relationships with ants that protect them from herbivores, pathogens and other plants, in exchange for room and board.
- ‘Over the next hour, it’s dispatched, dismantled and butchered, piece by piece.’ This may be the most savage ambush attack we’ve ever heard
- The weirdest animal friendships on the planet: Animal pairings that shouldn’t get along but are actually the best of friends
Eye blood
Horned lizards squirt blood from their eyes via ‘autohaemorrhaging’, shooting jets of defensive fluid at would-be attackers more than 1m away.
- It squirts toxic blood from its eyes, has armoured spiky skin and can self-inflate to twice its size. Is this one of the weirdest animals on the planet?
- Weirdest lizards on the planet: These reptiles are so strange they could be from a sci-fi movie – except every one of them is 100% real
Chemical cannons
Bombardier beetles mix hydrogen peroxide with hydroquinone to produce a boiling-hot, caustic chemical that sprays from the abdomen with an audible pop.
- Can beetles really be beautiful? Oh yes... Meet incredible-looking beetles that will make you rethink what a creepy crawly looks like
- How big are beetles?
Sticky organs
Sea cucumbers can expel toxin-laced internal organs, such as those in the respiratory system’s sticky Cuvierian tubules, which entangle chasing enemies.
- This swimming sea cucumber looks like nothing you’ve ever seen
- It looks like a pineapple crossed with a giant sausage – colossal ocean creature filmed crawling along seafloor
Gut fluids
Like squid ink, the cloud of reddish-brown fluid secreted via the anus of pygmy and dwarf sperm whales creates a smokescreen to escape from predators.
- Sperm whales have been seen pooing on orcas in what scientists think may be a form of 'defensive defecation'
- "As it passed mere millimetres from my body, it released a massive cloud of excrement that covered me head to fin"
Electric blankets
Some electric eels generate shocks of 860v, half the voltage of a taser, wrapping around their prey to cause involuntary muscle contractions and fatigue.
Sonic bubbles
The pistol-like claws of snapping shrimp fire cavitation bubbles that create loud shock waves as they suddenly collapse, stunning other animals.
Exploding bodies
Aptly named, the ant Colobopsis explodens self-sacrifices by rupturing its abdomen to release toxic yellow goo, to protect nest-mates.
