Explosions are messy at the best of times, but when the thing exploding is an animal, or part of an animal, it rarely ends well.
Believe it or not, there are some species that choose to self-destruct deliberately, and others for whom the experience is a messy, unfortunate mishap. Some jettison bits of their body, whist others spray foul liquids from their orifices. From whales that go boom on beaches to toads that go bang in the night, here are ten explosive animals.
10 exploding animals
Whales
When whales become stranded and wash up on shore, their decaying bodies produce gas. This can build up internally, until the cetacean’s body can’t take any more. In 2016, a 14 metre-long sperm whale exploded on a beach in Norfolk as scientists were performing an autopsy. Similar spectacles have occurred elsewhere, but the most dramatic whale explosion was not accidental, but deliberate.
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After a 7,000 kilogram sperm whale washed up on the beach in Florence, Oregon, local authorities decided to ‘remove’ it using 20 cases of dynamite. Ignoring advice from an expert, who suggested 20 sticks would suffice, the detonation went ahead on 12 November 1970.
It was spectacularly excessive. Chunks of blubber were catapulted far and wide, flattening a nearby car and sending spectators running for their lives. Paul Linnman, who reported the incident for KATU-TV suggested that should a whale ever wash ashore again, “those in charge will not only remember what to do, they’ll certainly remember what not to do.”
Ants
Talk about taking one for the team. In the treetops of Borneo, there is a species of ant that blows itself up to protect its colony. The small, rust-coloured insect, dubbed Colobopsis explodens, was officially described just eight years ago. It belongs to a group of ants known collectively as ‘exploding’ or ‘suicide’ ants.
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Faced with a combatant that won’t back down, Colobopsis explodens will bite it, point its backside towards it, then flex its abdomen so hard that it explodes, showering the aggressor with toxic yellow goo.
The scientist who discovered it, Alice Laciny from Vienna’s Natural History Museum, described the gunk as having “a distinct and not unpleasant smell that’s strangely reminiscent of curry.” The strategy, known as autothysis, is only performed by the sterile worker ants, who self-sacrifice in order to protect the larger colony members.
Bombardier beetles
While the bombardier beetle doesn’t explode itself, it does expel jets of boiling liquid from its backside. This is a defensive strategy. There are hundreds of species of bombardier beetle, found all over the world. When they feel threatened, chemical reagents that are usually stored in separate internal compartments become mixed together in the abdomen. Hydrogen peroxide reacts with hydroquinone to generate heat, water and a caustic chemical called 1,4-Benzoquinone.
No sooner is the reaction complete than the boiling mixture is fired from the tip of the abdomen in a volley of repetitive pulses. The explosion is so volatile it generates an audible pop and the mixture is so irritating it can damage the eyes and respiratory systems of predators, such as birds and toads.
Toads
In April 2005, experts were bamboozled by an outbreak of exploding toads in the Altona district of Hamburg. Across a handful of nights, hundreds of amphibians swelled up to three times their size and then ruptured, propelling their entrails up to a metre away.
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Early theories, including water pollution or infection, were quickly discarded, leaving an unlikely prime suspect. When German veterinarian Franz Mutschmann studied the dead toads, he discovered that their livers had been removed through a beak-sized hole.
Crows, he surmised, were to blame. Under attack, the toads would have puffed themselves up, but then after their death, the pressure kept building, until… Boom!
Exploding rats
During the Second World War, the British military weaponised rats, creating the ‘explosive rat’ or ‘rat bomb.’ Dead rats were stuffed with plastic explosives, and the plan was to secretly place them next to German boiler rooms. Strategists theorised that the enemy would dispose of the vermin by shovelling them into the furnace, where they would explode. German infrastructure would be destroyed. Military bases would grind to a standstill…
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So, they hoped. The rodents never fulfilled their destiny. The first batch of rat bombs was seized by German soldiers, who put the rat bombs on display in their military schools. After that, German forces had no choice but to watch out for further rat bombs, consuming enough resources for the British military to label the operation a success.
Sea cucumbers
Fun fact, the collective noun for a group of sea cucumbers is a pickle! Sea cucumbers are utterly fascinating. The bizarre, brainless marine invertebrates can breathe through their anus, regenerate lost organs and ‘liquefy’ their body to squeeze into small spaces.
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Around 1,200 species exist, some up to three metres long. They’re not speedy and they can’t fight, so they have evolved different defensive strategies. Some species expel sticky, toxic white threads, called Cuvierian tubules, which entangle their enemies. Other species eject their internal organs, including intestines, respiratory apparatus and gonads, and then regrow them later. Innards are sacrificed to distract predators in a process known as evisceration.
Horned lizards
Horned lizards have more methods of self-defence than a martial arts teacher. First, the little North American reptiles are masters of camouflage.
Second, they’re covered in armoured, spiky skin. Third, they can puff up their bodies to make them seem twice as big. And four, they can squirt explosive jets of blood from their eyes.
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They do this by reducing the blood flow away from the head, leading to a build up of pressure which causes blood vessels around the eyelids to rupture. The is known as ‘ocular autohemorrhaging,’ and it’s remarkably precise. The lizards can squirt blood to a distance of up to nine times their body length, hitting predators, such as wolves and coyotes, square in the face. If that wasn’t bad enough, the blood also contains toxins derived from the venomous harvester ants that they eat.
Skinks
Picture the scene. You’re walking along, minding your own business when you glance down and see a severed, scaly tail, writhing around like landed fish. The owner of the tail, a small skink, is nowhere to be seen.
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Lots of lizards do this. The tail may not be blown off, but what happens is impressive, nevertheless. When the skink is in danger, it deliberately detaches part of the appendage to act as a decoy. Then as kerfuffle ensues, the skink scarpers and quietly starts regrowing the missing appendage.
A recent study revealed exactly how the lizards manage to achieve this. Instead of the tail being yanked straight back, the break is facilitated by the lizard bending the appendage sideways. Tiny cracks in the tail’s vertebra then enable the structure to give way.
Termites
As if exploding ants weren’t enough, some species of termite also explode. Like ants, termites are social animals that live in cooperative colonies. Like ants, termites also sometimes take one for the team. This time it’s the older members of the colony who self-detonate.
As they age, Neocapritermes taracua termites accumulate toxic blue copper-containing crystals in pouches on their back. When they are attacked, the termites contract the muscles between their body segments, forcing the bizarre backpack to rupture. As the blue crystals mix with labial secretions, they dissolve and simultaneously burst out of the termite’s back. This kills both the termite and attacker that dared to get too close.
Elysia marginata
And finally, an honourable mention goes to the sea slug, Elysia marginata, which doesn’t explode but which can detach its head from its body. The little green gastropod can be found in the Indo-Pacific ocean region, where it lives in shallow waters and feeds on algae.
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Unlike other sea slugs, which can only shed minor body parts, E. marginata can detach its head over a period of a few hours. This is too slow to be a form of self-defence and instead, is thought to be a way of eliminating parasites. Remarkably, the head survives and continues to graze on algae whilst the body and internal organs regenerate.
