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MEXICO: Many beetles secrete foul-smelling or bad-tasting chemicals from their abdomens to ward off predators, but one takes things a step further.
When bombardier beetles are threatened, they combine chemicals in a chamber in their abdomen to simultaneously synthesize, heat, and propel their defensive load as a boiling hot spray, complete with “gunsmoke.” They can even precisely aim the nozzle at the attacker.
A new study, published in the journal science, not only reveals the beetle’s firing apparatus in never-before-seen detail, but also solves a long-standing mystery of how the animals achieve their insane rapid-fire capabilities.
