Projectile use by non-human organisms

Short description: Non-human use of projectiles Illustration of an
archerfish shooting water at an insect on a hanging branch. Although
projectiles are commonly used in human conflict, projectile use by
organisms other than humans is relatively rare. Contents 1 Animals 1.1
Liquid projectiles 1.2 Solid projectiles 1.3 Tethered projectiles 1.4
Bubbles 2 Plants and fungi 3 References 4 External links Animals[edit]
Liquid projectiles[edit] Most projectiles used by terrestrial animals
are liquids. Among invertebrates there are a number of examples.
Velvet worms can squirt out an slimy adhesive fluid from glands on the
sides of their head, and use it to trap their prey. The spitting
spiders Scytodes can spit a venomous sticky fluid that traps its
victims and also poisons them.[1] The bombardier beetle is unusual by
using a violent exothermic chemical reaction to launch a boiling
noxious chemical spray in a rapid burst of pulses from special glands
in its abdomen, accompanied with a popping sound. The Anthia
(oogpister beetle) will fire formic acid at attackers, probably
extracting the formic acid from the ants that it eats. The devil-rider
stick insects (Anisomorpha) can fire terpenes from glands on the
metathorax that can cause an intense burning irritation of the eyes
and mouth of potential predators. Wood ants will spray acid at
attackers. A type of planthopper of Madagascar is able to flick small
balls of honeydew, this attracts day geckos that feed on the honeydew
and whose presence may deter predators from approaching the
sap-sucking insect.[2] Termites of the North American termite
subfamily Nasutitermitinae can project a sticky fluid from a nozzle on
their heads. They can use this fontanellar gun accurately, over a
range of many centimeters, even though the termite is blind, possibly
using auditory or olfactory cues instead. A number of vertebrates also
use liquid projectiles. The archerfish will squirt water from its
mouth to dislodge invertebrates from overhanging branches. Some
diptodactyline geckos can fire a black or pale yellow sticky fluid out
of glands in their tail for a distance of about a meter, and with good
aim. This fluid has a musky unpleasant odour and although it is not
toxic it may discourage predators, in particular the big arthropods
that prey on these geckos.[3] The spitting cobra can squirt venom from
forward-facing holes in its fangs.[4] It aims for its victim's eyes,
spitting up to 1.5 m. The venom may cause blindness. The Mangshan
pitviper is also reported to spit venom. A bird that uses liquid
projectiles in defense is the southern giant petrel which produces a
stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that are stored in
the proventriculus and can be projectile vomited on predators. Other
petrels such as the fulmar can also squirt oils from their mouths as a
defense. They can squirt oils with accuracy up to a distance of 1 to 2
meters. The oil mats the feathers of birds together and destroys their
waterproofing abilities, so oiled birds may die from chilling or
drowning, although fulmars seem able to remove the oil from themselves
by preening. Birds ranging from gulls to sea-eagles have died after
being squirted by fulmars.[5] Some species of penguin expel liquid
feces in a projectile manner, to a distance of up to about 50 cm.
They are believed to do this because during the brooding season, when
penguins are sitting on their nests, they avoid leaving their nests
and thereby leaving their eggs open to predation and thus to maintain
a clean nest they evolved the ability to project their feces.[6] Among
mammals, skunks can eject a noxious fluid from glands near their anus.
It is not only foul smelling, but can cause skin irritation and, if it
gets in the eyes, temporary blindness. When it feels threatened a
camel will bring up their stomach contents, along with saliva, and
project it out towards the threat to distract, surprise, or bother the
threat.[7] Solid projectiles[edit] Adult female Brachypelma smithi,
showing a bald patch after kicking hairs off her abdomen. Some New
World tarantulas have a dense covering of hairs called urticating
hairs on the abdomen that they sometimes use as protection against
enemies.[8][9][10] Species with urticating hairs can kick these hairs
off; they are flicked into the air at a target using their back pairs
of legs. These fine hairs are barbed and designed to irritate and can
be lethal to small animals such as rodents. The symptoms range from a
burning itch to a minor rash, from being lethal to simply being a
deterrent. With humans, they can cause irritation to the eyes, nose,
and skin, and more dangerously, the lungs and airways, if inhaled. In
some cases, tarantula hairs have caused permanent damage to human
eyes. Urticating hairs do not grow back, but are replaced with each
moult. Another invertebrate, the antlion, also makes use of solid
projectiles. The antlion lies at the bottom of a sloping pit that it
digs in the sand. Small prey slip into the pit on the loose substrate.
If the prey crawls up the slopes of the pit, the antlion throws sand
at the prey, which may dislodge it and send it back down the pit.[11]
In gastropods, cone snails have modified radula tooth which is stored
in the radular sac and at the end of proboscis, acting like a harpoon.
Their "harpoon" is venomous, which assists cone snail to paralyze or
kill the prey before eating it. A number of vertebrate species also
make use of solid projectiles. Among birds the hornbill uses
projectile motion to eat food. The hornbill's beak typically only
contacts at the tip, and it has a short tongue. To swallow food the
hornbill instead throws the food from the tip of its long bill
backwards into the throat.[12] One example of solid projectile use
among mammals is the California ground squirrel, which is known to
distract predators such as the rattlesnake and gopher snake from
locating their nest burrows by kicking sand into their eyes.[13] A
wild female African elephant has also been observed to throw various
materials at an interfering rhino.[14] Orcas have been observed to
throw seal prey using their tail flukes in apparent play behavior.[15]
Some primates, including humans, can throw objects such as rocks,
sticks, and feces as projectiles. Primates that are known to throw are
humans, bonobos,[16] chimpanzees,[17] gorillas,[18] orangutans,[19]
capuchins,[20] certain gibbons[21] and perhaps some baboons[22] and
Japanese macaques[23] (although not rhesus macaques).[24] A chimpanzee
named Santino in a Swedish zoo was observed to stockpile stones to be
used as missiles against visitors.[25] Tethered projectiles[edit] A
chameleon launching its tongue at its prey Chameleons, frogs and some
lungless salamanders have tongues that act like a tethered projectile.
In frogs, the tongue is attached at the front of the mouth and rotates
about this attachment as it flips out (thus the top of the tongue at
rest becomes the bottom when extended). In chameleons, the tongue
contracts against a tapered hyoid bone, eventually slipping off and
projecting forward at very high speed. Lungless salamanders use a
similar method, however, both the tongue and underlying hyoid bone
project (in contrast to chameleons, whose hyoid remains fixed while
the fleshy portion of the tongue projects).[26] In both salamanders
and chameleons, the movement is too fast and requires too much
mechanical power for muscle alone to provide – instead, muscles
slowly pre-load elastic elements such as connective tissue, which can
then recoil and release the stored energy at a much higher
rate.[27][28] In order to retract their tongues over such great
distances, the tongue muscles of chameleons have perforated Z-disks,
allowing each sarcomere to shorten far greater distances than those of
other vertebrates.[29] Bubbles[edit] The pistol shrimp claw has a
pistol-like feature made of two parts. A joint allows the "hammer"
part to move backward into a right-angled position. When released, it
snaps into the other part of the claw, emitting an enormously powerful
wave of bubbles capable of stunning larger fish and breaking
glass.[30] Plants and fungi[edit] The seed pods of the orange
jewelweed have projectile seeds that, if ripe, explode out of the pods
when they are lightly touched. The seed pods of the scotch broom also
burst open, often with an audible crack, projecting the seeds from the
parent plant. Similarly, the fruit of the sandbox tree burst open to
disperse seeds, but the reaction is so violent that it can injure
nearby people or livestock.[31] Some plants such as the dogwood
bunchberry and white mulberry will also fling pollen from their
flowers. Peat mosses are known to explosively launch their spores.[32]
Hat-throwing fungi fire their spore capsules up to 2 m,[33] and the
cannonball fungi of the genus Sphaerobolus, such as S. stellatus, the
artillery fungus can throw sticky spore sacs up to 6 m
horizontally.[34][35] This species is phototropic, and propels spores
towards the nearest source of direct or reflected light, like the
sides of brightly colored houses.[36] References[edit] ↑ Yap, L.-M.
Y. L.; Li, D. (2009). "Singaporean spiders spit venomous glue, work
together, eat each other | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7247472.stm. Retrieved 2012-10-21.  ↑
Naish, Darren (2010-04-28). "Squirting sticky fluid, having a
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Retrieved 2008-11-27.  ↑ Nawaz, M. (1967). "Phototropism in
Sphaerobolus". Biologia 13: 5–14.  External links[edit] Nature's
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