Some unusual predatory or defensive behaviors that I want to know more about

Add a comment

This is a misleading title to say that least. The reason why is because (as hopeless as it is) I want to know waaaaaaaaaay many more things that the ones I am about to list, not just predatory or defensive behaviors. I guess these are just the ones that occupy my mind today… I would love to know how did they evolve.

The reason why I consider these predatory behaviors weird is because for the most part, one would think that relatively complex behaviors require relatively complex nervous systems. In many of these cases, the organisms responsible for these behaviors do not have an overtly complex nervous system and in more than one case, they do not have a nervous system at all!

Here goes, how did the following aspects of biology evolve?

*Japanese honey bees are known for cooking predatory hornets to death.

*The many types of parasitic organisms that change the behavior of their hosts… Heebie jeebies time!

*The tarantula hawk is a type of wasp that as the name implies, attack and kills tarantulas, but not immediately. The wasp’s sting does not kill the spider, it paralyzes it. Then the waps carries the prey to a burrow and deposits an egg, leaving the tarantula as live, really fresh food for the developing larva.

Can you think of other examples?

Do I smell a book, perhaps titled “Weird ways to die” or “Weird ways to kill”?

(;-)

I would love to hear what you think!

~~~
Want to see more of the things I write? Go here for some other posts.

Shoot me a message if you have any questions! orpagan@yahoo.com

You can subscribe to my blog! Just go to the “Home” page, right hand side.

Facebook page

Twitter: @Baldscientist

For my Amazon author page, click here.

For the customary disclaimers go to my “About” page…

Categories:

Published by orpagan

I am a husband, a father of three, and a baldie, who also happens to be a pretty good (I hope) University Professor and Researcher. My undergraduate degree is in General Science, and my MS is in Biochemistry, both from the University of Puerto Rico. My PhD is in Pharmacology, with an emphasis in Neurobiology, from Cornell University. I love science! (do I really need to say it?) In this blog, I mainly talk about science, especially to non-scientists, but from time to time I explore topics like how is it like to raise a boy with autism, science fiction, education, etc. I am usually able to give these and other topics a scientific twist. I also blog about my favorite (non-human) types of organisms, the flatworms, especially planarians. I use planarians as animal models in pharmacology. If you’d like to see my papers so far, click here. Even though I am well published in scientific journals, I got the popular science writing bug relatively recently. I am a scientist who writes, and I have published three book so far. I hope you enjoy my posts. The opinions expressed in this blog are mine alone. They do not represent the views of my employer, my wife, my children, my parents & siblings, or Chuck Darwin…

0 Comments

  1. Mantis shrimp: they smash or spear with their claws with such force, that they can kill the prey with a shock wave even if the strike misses the target.

    Reply

  3. Certain species of wasps ovipositing their larvae into goldenrod ball galls to kill fly larvae of Eurosta solidaginis?

    Reply

Thanks for your comment. I will do my best to reply soon; be nice!