Death by Mantis

LORD BENIS said:

My buddy found this the other day and I thought I'd post it here. Pretty cool.

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Yummybud said:

as for bugs I think the craziest insect is the Scorpion....... not sure what they are called but those big scorpions are the craziest, not the tiny poisonous ones but the huge ones that are black or red, saw them at the zoo I think some years ago, pretty nuts.


oh and theres this bug that can shoot boiling hot liquid at it's prey like super hot liquid that it creates with a chemical reaction, I think that's pretty nuts, like how the hell did that happen through evolution and how does it not burn itself with the boiling liquids inside it.

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he mechanism works like this: Secretory cells produce hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide (and perhaps other chemicals, depending on the species), which collect in a reservoir. The reservoir opens through a muscle-controlled valve onto a thick-walled reaction chamber. This chamber is lined with cells that secrete catalases and peroxidases. When the contents of the reservoir are forced into the reaction chamber, the catalases and peroxidases rapidly break down the hydrogen peroxide and catalyze the oxidation of the hydroquinones into p-quinones. These reactions release free oxygen and generate enough heat to bring the mixture to the boiling point and vaporize about a fifth of it. Under pressure of the released gasses, the valve is forced closed, and the chemicals are expelled explosively through openings at the tip of the abdomen. Each time it does this it shoots about 70 times very rapidly. (The spray, aimed with precision, can be pointed in any direction, including forward over its back. This by bouncing the spray off a pair of skeletal reflectors stuck from the tip of its abdomen at the moment of ejection.) This makes a loud cracking or banging sound as the beetle shoots the spray, similar to a bursting balloon. This effectively deters predators, often causing blindness or death, and can be painful to human skin.

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Yummybud said:

It's crazy how bugs are really the most successful life form on earth, humans are a new species and so many of our ancestors have become extinct but bugs (and bacteria but that's different not animals) have pretty much remained unchanged for like a billion years, like the cockroach and they still are the most likely to continue living.

I've always thought about what it would be like if insects were like the size of humans lol, they'd own the world, a spider or insect the size of a human would be able to prey on any animal, just lookat that praying mantis killing a bird.

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yummybud said:

I remember seeing this massive grasshopper sitting on my car a few years ago and I threw my shoe at it and then ran screaming like a girl lol, good thing no one saw me.....

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