29

OFFENCE & DEFENSE

Attack and defense or peace and war

are not problems of only our world
It is part of struggle for existence
of all creatures in this world
i TECHNIQUES

Jelly fishes also specialize in causing instant death ;

The stinging cells on the tentacles of a jelly fish
like Portuguese-man-of-war discharge a barbed whip,
in fraction of a second, and lash the prey with great speed
delivering a powerful venom causing sudden death.

Many animals socialize and carry on cooperative hunting

but one of the Nature’s Masterpieces certainly is blowing
of bubbles in unison by some whales during ‘echelon feeding’ .
In fact half a dozen Humpback whales work closely together
to create a ‘net’ of bubbles for rounding up prey with it, and forming
a circle below the shoal ,begin to blow light reflecting bubbles
frightening the prey, and rise, screaming and driving them in their
gaping mouths together .
 30
ii TOOLS

At one time it was thought that humans were the only living creatures
to use tools .Now we know that animals, including other mammals,
birds, and insects, have discovered that tools can help them to acquire a
meal :

Sea Otters of American coast use a stone as a tool

-.as a hammer or anvil to break open shells of clams,
crabs, mussels,- its favourite, and other molluscs .

Certain vultures of East Africa are committed stone-throwers

and crack, by hitting with stone, even hard shelled Ostrich eggs
or smash, by dashing on ground, a pelican’s or flamingo’s eggs.

An anvil is also the preferred tool of the African mongoose ..

The European Song thrush also smashes snails against a stone .

European red-backed shrike the ‘butcher bird’ impales

its prey -a locust or lizard or surplus food on thorns or barbs.

The Woodpecker Finches of Galapagos breaks off a spine

of a cactus and holding it in its bill uses it to probe and winkle
 31
out any hard to reach insect or grub hidden inside a hole or crevice .

The Green-backed Heron makes its own fishing bait-a live one
of an insect or an artificial one of feather or twig etc and throws it on
water surface to lure prey within stabbing range of its sharp bill .
 32

iii DECEPTION & DISGUISE

In the art of Deception and Ambush for attack and defence

also the animals excel and assuming sophisticated strategies.
for stealth, invisibility, disguise, pretence etc do not hesitate
to adopt even pretty nasty tricks for their unwary victims ;
And many animals are really Masters of disguise :

The Jumping spider has perfected this art by mimicking

the green weaver ant, its prey, to the extant of imitating
its shape ,eyes, antenna ,the way it moves and looks
to confuse both the prey and the predators,

But Master of disguise is Mantis as it is skilled in the art of

masquerade, mimicking the exact shape, texture and colour of a leaf or
flower and, hue of a petal and even rocks gently like leaves or petals in
slight breeze .

USA’s freshwater turtle lures prey by a small bright pink

ribbon of flesh, on its tongue, looking like a worm ;
Similarly Australian Pit Viper snakes attracts prey by
 33
highly visible lure ,at the end of its tail, looking like worm .

To hunt African black Heron turns itself into a canopy

by stretching its wings like an umbrella to trick its prey
in believing It’s shadow is that of a rock and a safe refuge

iv ARMOURY

.
Poets the world over often characterize nature as peaceful, calm
and gentle, but reality is very different from this soothing day-dream;
For In the battle for survival, evolution has created a deadly armoury
of weapons--swords, arrows , electric shocks, chainsaws, chemicals
and poisons , all being part of its mind boggling noxious arsenals .

The Sun spider which can crush small mammals, lizards

and birds by its powerful jaws, has sensory organs in its legs ,
and homes in on its prey by detecting ground vibrations .

Stinging capsules of Box jelly fish of Australia

shoot out a deadly toxin paralyzing its prey .
 34
Small Cookie-cutter Shark ,with luminous under parts,
becomes invisible by adjusting the amount of emitted light
and homing on a prey darts for a big bite of its flesh in a flash .

From shoes ,cans, nails etc on one hand and jellyfish, crabs ,snakes
turtles and birds to seals ,dolphins, even other sharks the dangerous
Tiger Shark can eat anything and every thing due to a set of vicious
serrated teeth that are curved and notched and usable as a chainsaw .

Archer fish takes aim with a water gun by firing a jet of water
while remaining under water , on an insect much above water
with great accuracy ,enabling it to dislodge victim it for its meal .

Unique weapon of a Sword fish –its ‘sword’, formed from its pointed
snout, is used to plunging in , slashing, slapping and stunning fishes .

A Boxer or Pompom Crab of Hawaii holds her Anemone friend aloft

and punches the enemy in the face with this living stinging boxing
glove .
v CAMOUFLAGE

Many animals specialize in camouflage for attack using elaborate

combinations of colour, shape, and behaviour creating disguise; some
 35
blend with the background ,others masquerade as different animals .

The Carpet shark looking like an underwater boulder lies still on sea
bed with fleshy fringes dangling from lips like algae ,its skin mottled
like rock and encrusted with algae completes the disguise .

Crab spiders catch their prey unawares by changing colour to match

their lair usually a flower by controlling the amount of pigment in skin

Nestled among the leaf on forest floor the Gaboon Viper ‘disappears’
,its shape broken up by bold markings of black, brown, buff and grey,
and head like a fallen leaf, it lies in ambush, merged with surroundings .
.
Larvae of Lacewing of Florida steal wax from ,mealy bugs, their prey
and covering themselves with this wax live incognito among the prey .

Just as some creatures disguise to kill, others do so for defense and try
to look like surroundings using stripes, lights, or colour changes in a
trice.
Some fish such as Viper fish carry their own light ‘bulbs’
which they can brighten and dim to order to be able to blend
in with the ambient light and their outline melts away .
 36
Masters at colour change, flat fish blend in superbly
with grainy sea bed. The ‘Founders’ can even reproduce
checker board, a design not found anywhere in Nature .

Tawny frogmouth nesting on a tree in Australia looks

just like a lichen covered broken stump of wood as
its blotchy brown plumage blends well with the trunk .

When it rains, the ‘Sloth’ turns green due to algae growing in its
coarse coat enabling it to blend with green vegetation ;
In dry season algae turn brownish enabling it to merge with dry trunks .

Animals sometimes work together to create group camouflage

to fool predators as in Madagascar insects such as Phiatids have
brilliant coloured wings which when massed together fool bird
predators into thinking they are just petals of no interest to them.

In fact many animals are great pretenders and ensure safety

by being great confidence tricksters and trying to fool enemies
either by looking like something inedible or by adopting
the persona of a different , more dangerous creature .
 37
Actually the harmless American Hawkmoth caterpillar can
quickly disguise itself as a tree snake flicking a ‘tongue’ in
and out of a ‘snake’s head’ like end and a pair of false eyes ;
From the triangular snake Head to the glint in the eye it is
in fact one of the World’s top impersonators of snakes .

Some of the ‘dead leaves’ which float in the American rivers

are in fact alive and well, being ‘Leaf fishes’ looking like leaves,
with colour , shape, stalk and ribs matching a leaf almost exactly .

Tiny Hippolyte prawn is a technicolour versatility capable of

mimicking all the colors of rainbow and handling patterns and textures
including exact colour ,shade, structure ,vein, and grain of a floating
dead leaf .
The Horned frog has a mottled brown colouration. Leaf-like
projections on its head ,above its eyes ,and on its elbows and legs along
with twig like mouth help it to merge with surroundings. and look like
leaf litter around it .
The leafy Sea dragon from Australia looks so much like sea weed
that small fish sometimes take refuge in its foliage.They are covered
from head to tail in fleshy skin flaps which ,like fronds of vegetation
float and sway with the swell, and it is almost impossible to locate it
 38
amongst kelps As a second line of defense it has a bony armour and
spines which make it inedible and it moves around safe and sound.

Wasps can inflict a nasty sting, and their black- and- yellow outfit
is copied by bees, moths, flies and other insects to scare predators .

Worlds most extraordinary impersonator is ,however, Mimic Octopus

having multiple personalities with its ability to adopt 15 different
characters by changing from sting rays to sea snakes to
sand anemones to, blenny fishes to shrimps and so on due to its
control over colour , shape and behaviour . .

vi TRICKS

Animals have an amazing array of tricks designed to startle, frighten

and surprise an aggressor in an effort to quickly escape from predator .

Russian ‘Glass snake’ –a legless lizard when threatened ‘shatters’ its

tail into several wriggling, writhing pieces confusing the predator and
enabling it to escape unhurt and still capable of re growing its tail .
 39
The Octopus , Cuttle fish and Squids squirt ink straight into enemies
face , creating instant black cloud enabling them to run away quickly,
with ‘‘heels’ over their heads’ and escape cleverly .;
hence called Cephalopods (feet over head) by biologists correctly .

The warty Prow fish of Australia responds to danger by instantly

producing a mask of smoke like cloud of toxic fluid and escape safely.

A Springtail larva acts like a gymnast performing a routine of twists

high leaps, somersaults and back flips -when startled it releases an
appendage which catapults it through air and out of immediate danger
with a show of acrobatics !.

Lizard Horny toad adopts a grotesque bloody way to escape by

responding to attack by shooting a jet of blood accurately from its eyes
greatly shocking the enemy and ensuring that the aggressor backs off
without harming.

When attacked ,the luminous shrimp of the Atlantic dazzles its enemy
in a novel way with a show of flashing lights startling the predator and
enabling it to slip away .
 40
When Sea cucumber is attacked , in desperation, it vomits
its entrails-some through the mouth some through its anus
shocking and entangling the attacker and drowning it .

The basilisk lizard of America pulls a stunt and sprints upright,

buoyed by toe fringes , running across the lake at high speed without
sinking that leaves pursuer high and dry and earning the name of
River crosser or Jesus Christ lizard .

Arctiid Moths have ‘ears’ to hear a bat approach and a sound alarm of
rapid clicks that ‘tell’ a bat not to bother it ; and Tiger moths react by
clicks similar to that of bats effectively jamming bat’s information
processing system a precursor of modern frequency jamming system !.

Some animals protect themselves by natural ‘armour’ and ‘weapons’

such as Deadly daggers, fearsome spears ,needle-sharp spines, and
venomous stings in self defense .

Bizzare looking ‘Thorny devil’ Moloch appears bigger and scarier

than it really is due to mass of large prickly spines and succeed in
bluffing the predator .
 41
Vulernable looking Potto of Africa a primate conceals a fearsome
weapon, a phalanx of spines ; sufficient to dissuade an invader.

And a line of warty knobs along the sharp-ribbed Salamander’s flank

gives away its extraordinary defense mechanism and it can easily face
even snakes that way.;

The giant Armadillo of South America is the most heavily armoured

animal alive .
And Whale sharks have skin as tough as an armour .

At the slightest danger the ‘ Porcupine fish ’ transforms

itself into football sized balloon covered in sharp spines .

Cassowarys are known for their vicious powerful Dagger feet

Many animals use deadly chemicals in offense or defense .

Vivid pink black and yellow green maroon blue spots of ‘Arrow-poison
frogs’ of America act as warning colours and along with very powerful
poison and antibiotics in its skin provide good defense .
 42
Hissing loudly the luridly coloured Lubber grasshopper foams at the
mouth and thorax in self defense .as the bursting bubbles release a
pungent gas as a protective mist and is sufficient to dissuade any
predator .

Deadly Bulldog ants of Australia ,relatives of fire ants bite and sting at
the same time and bound through the air towards intruders using
chemicals for communication , orientation and defense .

Caterpillars of European Pine saw fly use a chemical trick to confuse

or kill a scouting messenger ant by dabbing its head and antennae with
a gum which acts as a danger signal for other ants .

Termites have an arsenal of chemical weapons and some species use a

squirt gun on their heads to shoot toxins at the enemy .

Many animals seek safety in size and/or numbers like

Heavy weight Musk oxen ( with massive horns ) ;

White Rhino another heavy weight champion ; and
Blue whales--the largest animals on earth today.