A Shrimp Snap Hotter Than Lava — and 4 More Animal Weapons

A fish that out-powers a wall socket, a shrimp whose snap makes light, a fish that shoots insects with water, a beetle that fires boiling chemicals, and a shrimp that punches like a hammer. Here's the real physics and chemistry behind five of nature's most incredible weapons. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:29 The Electric Eel: Living Battery 1:54 The Pistol Shrimp: Bubble Bullet 3:05 The Archerfish: Water Sniper 4:14 The Bombardier Beetle: Chemical Cannon 5:26 The Mantis Shrimp: Spring-Loaded Hammer 6:42 Which weapon would you least want to meet? Sources • de Santana et al., Nature Communications (2019): Volta's electric eel and the 860 V discharge • Catania, Science (2014) and PNAS (2016): how electric eels track prey and leap at threats • Versluis et al., Science (2000): how snapping shrimp snap, through cavitation • Lohse et al., Nature (2001): snapping shrimp make flashing bubbles • Vailati et al., PLoS ONE (2012): how archerfish shape their water jets • Schuster et al., Current Biology (2006): archerfish learn by watching others • Newport et al., Scientific Reports (2016): archerfish recognize human faces • Arndt et al., Science (2015): high-speed X-ray imaging of bombardier beetle pulses • Sugiura & Sato, Biology Letters (2018): bombardier beetles escape from toads • Patek, Korff & Caldwell, Nature (2004): the mantis shrimp's spring-loaded strike • Patek & Caldwell, Journal of Experimental Biology (2005): impact and cavitation forces • Weaver et al., Science (2012): the layered, crack-stopping mantis shrimp club • Thoen et al., Science (2014): mantis shrimp color vision Wild Wonder Lab: Real Science. Amazing Stories. #AnimalFacts #Science #Nature #WildWonderLab