Discover the strange self-defense of animals

Animals often run away or attack again when in danger. However, there are species that choose strange self-defense methods, such as fake death, curling their bodies or turning themselves into weapons that are hard to swallow .

Unusual self-defense methods of animals

American marsupial

Animals do not deliberately die but are natural psychological reactions when in danger.

Animals with pockets live mainly on trees with thick fur, long snout and hairless tail. They have the name opossum, which means play dead . That is also its special defense.

This animal lives mainly from Canada to Costa Rica. Normally, they still have dangerous reactions like other marsupials such as hissing, scratching and baring teeth. If the situation is more dangerous, they can bite maliciously. However, if every attempt fails, the situation becomes extremely dangerous, they will carry out their " Plan B" : fake death.

The animal will drop itself to the ground, its small mouth is as if it is sick, lying motionless with its mouth open. Besides, it secretes a substance that smells like corpses from its anal glands.

The image of the animal in a state of fake death

Most carnivores like to kill their own prey, not even interested in dead animals. It is this that saves this gnawing animal from death. However, this is not its hypocrisy, but a psychological response to a situation of intense stress. It fell into a coma in a few hours, only regaining consciousness after the enemy had left. No one has been able to explain this mystery of their bodies.

West African lemur

The lemur extends the spine that transforms itself into a unique weapon.

As its name suggests, lemurs are found only in tropical forests in Africa. They are a small animal that looks like a relative of bears living on trees. But the truth is they belong to the primate family.

Lemurs are nocturnal mammals, mainly feed on sap, fruits and small animals. Because of the slow movement, predators easily threaten their lives. Therefore, they have a very special defense.

Lemurs avoid deadly bites thanks to unique defense.

They extend the spine from neck to shoulder, forming protruding points, like a special weapon. This, in addition to threatening enemies, makes them harder to swallow.

These spinal sections also act as a shield , protecting the lemur's neck from deadly bites of enemies into weaknesses like the neck or the back of the head.

Pangolin

With hard scales, the pangolin almost doesn't worry about any enemies.

This animal lives mainly in Africa and Asia. Pangolin has a rather bizarre appearance with armor that makes them look like giant mobile pine cones. Their main food is insects. Although there are large and powerful claws, they are rarely used as weapons. Instead, it curled up like a ball , making it difficult for them to spread out. The sharp edges of the scales make them very difficult to be affected by most predators.

In addition, they can give the enemy strong tail whips, causing serious injuries.

Pangolin can curl into a ball and roll away very quickly.

And that is not all. Sumatran island pangolin also curls itself into a ball and suddenly rolls away at an extremely fast speed to escape.

The final solution of pangolins for defense is to secrete a foul , sticky substance from the anus to repel the enemy. Indeed, this animal rarely has to worry about its enemies.

Tatu

The fight is like a leather ball, not a gap for the enemy is the defense of tatu.

People still think, tatu with heavy armor, protecting it like tortoise shells will not be destroyed by carnivores. However, they do not rely on that thick shell to protect against large carnivores. Instead, they dug holes themselves to bury themselves underground to escape .

The tatu species in South America is even more special in its ability to roll into a perfect ball . In addition to the tight outer armor, the head and tail are intertwined when the animal rolls into a ball. This makes them completely safe from all enemies.

It looks like an animal wearing a golden armor.

In addition, they have a special self-defense game, creating a strange sound before they curl into a ball, causing this enemy to jump. Therefore, the tatu do not need to dig for themselves but use the dug caves of other animals.

Hedgehogs have crests

Hedgehogs have crests that can kill enemies by stabbing their enemies.

Hedgehogs have crests that live in Africa and even in southern Europe, mostly in Italy. They are considered to be the largest rodents in the world and also one of the best self-protecting mammals .

Their powerful weapons are sharp and sharp feathers with keratin . So even though the color of the fur is usually white and black, it makes them vulnerable to remote detection by enemies but they can still be safe.

When threatened, they often shake their tail feathers, creating noises to threaten their enemies. If ineffective, they try to turn their backs, attack or stab the enemy with the stiffness of the body.

They have antibiotics in their blood that prevent them from being poisoned when they get into an accident.

The porcupine feathers are easy to break. When they enter the enemy's body, the small hairs on the tip of the feather penetrate the enemy's wound. Many animals have died from infection from such wounds. More dangerous, when hard feathers poke deep into the flesh, they damage blood vessels and organs.

In many cases, this porcupine fell from the tree and was poked by its own feathers. But thanks to the antibiotic in the blood, they are not poisoned by their hair.