We all have our defense strategies! That from the bombardier beetle is simply amazing: It shoots boiling-hot fluids out its rear end at its attackers!
Bombardier beetles are ground beetles (Carabidae) counting more than 500 species altogether. They got their names from their defense mechanism: The bombardier beetle, when disturbed, ejects, with a popping sound, a hot, noxious chemical spray out of its abdomen.
As explained in Wikipedia:
The spray is produced by a reaction between two chemical compounds, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide, stored in separate reservoirs in the beetle’sabdomen and mixed when needed in a third chamber with water and catalytic enzymes. Heat from the reaction brings the mixture to near the boiling point of water and produces gas that drives the ejection. The damage caused can be fatal to attacking insects and small creatures and is painful to human skin.[citation needed] Some bombardier beetles can direct the spray over a wide range of directions.
Yeah, this is cool!
