Posted on 2011-08-09
The mantis shrimp is the best animal on earth, period (and it comes in multiple colors, yay).
When something is nicknamed “thumb splitter” and has its own order in the scientific classification, you know this is getting serious.
But what is really marvelous about this shrimp is its claws.
They use them to strike with the “elbow” with an acceleration of 10,400 g (~about the acceleration of a .22 calibre bullet).
Because they strike so rapidly, they generate cavitation bubbles between the appendage and the striking surface. The collapse of these cavitation bubbles produces measurable forces on their prey in addition to the instantaneous forces of 1,500 newtons that are caused by the impact of the appendage against the striking surface, which means that the prey is hit twice by a single strike; first by the claw and then by the collapsing cavitation bubbles that immediately follow. Even if the initial strike misses the prey, the resulting shock wave can be enough to kill or stun the prey.
That’s not all, they also possess the best eyesight in animal kingdom.
Each eye has trinocular vision, depth perception, can see polarized light and hyperspectral color vision.
And they are not afraid to use their features as these creatures are quite aggressive.
Try to keep them inside a tank and they’ll likely eat everything inside before breaking free.
Badass animal who doesn’t give a shit? Yup!
The Axolotl is pretty cool as well.