Porcupines shooting quills is a cartoon myth, but does any animal genuinely fire a projectile?
The image of a porcupine launching quills at an enemy is a cartoon invention; the quills detach on contact rather than being fired.
That made me wonder whether the mechanism exists anywhere else. Not an animal that spits liquid, which I know is common, but one whose body produces and launches a solid object as a weapon or to capture prey.
Does anything actually do this, and how does it generate the force?
@zoology_zeynep · last mo.
Several do, and the best example is a snail, which is not where most people expect to find one.
Cone snails hunt with a modified tooth, a hollow, barbed, harpoon-like structure held in the proboscis. It is loaded, fired at close range into the prey, and delivers venom through the hollow shaft. It is a genuine single-use projectile that the animal manufactures internally, and a fresh one is loaded for the next attempt. Some species take fish this way, which is remarkable for a snail.
The firing mechanism is hydraulic pressure built up behind the harpoon and released suddenly, which is the general solution in animals that lack anything resembling a spring-loaded launcher.
Worth adding the standard caution that several cone snail species are genuinely dangerous and should not be handled, this is one of the few "interesting animal" answers that comes with a real safety note.
Reply
Report