The circumstances and influences that helped English evolve
The stoat is an adorable fluffy little creature closely related to the weasel. But while it may look cute and innocent, its hunting method is quite diabolical. They are carnivores and will feed on pretty much anything they can catch, including insects, birds, mice, and other small mammals like rabbits and shrews.
The glamorous-looking mantis shrimp is actually one of the strongest animals in the world relative to its own size. The four-inch (10-cm) crustacean can beat the living daylights out of its prey using its club-like elbows, easily breaking the shells of clams or crabs.
The electric eel uses its unique ability to emit an electric shock to stun its prey. They hide in murky waters waiting for a fish, crustacean, or reptile to wander too close. When they sense movement in the water nearby, they emit two powerful electric pulses that paralyze their prey, allowing the eel to make a quick meal of them.
Killer whales are one of the few predators that prey on sharks, who are usually the apex predators in their environments. They hunt by driving the shark toward the surface of the water, where they give it a good hard smack, flipping it upside down.
These enormous centipedes are capable of catching relatively large animals such as mice, birds, snakes, and bats. When catching bats, they hang from the ceilings of caves in wait.
The sneaky trapdoor spider digs a hole for itself to hide in and ambush its prey. They even camouflage their hideout by dragging leaves and foliage in front of it. When an unsuspecting insect wanders too close, they spring out and drag it into their lair.
Deinopidae are impressively dexterous when it comes to weaving. They easily spot their prey, usually an insect, with their large eyes, and quickly spin a sort of net using their own silk. They toss the net over the insect within the blink of an eye, taking them by surprise. Suddenly the insect is like a fish in a trawler's net and there's nothing they can do to escape their fate.
Glowworms are one of nature's beautiful bioluminescent creatures that glow in the dark. Watching them at night is a magical experience, but they also use this special characteristic to hunt their prey. They create sticky webs and then attract insects using their glowing tails. The insects get trapped in the web where the glowworms inject them with digestive juices to start the feeding process.
While most ocean dwellers can only see blue light, the dragonfish can see red light. The red light is emitted from an organ below their eyes, allowing them to see in the dark when other sea creatures are essentially blind. They can easily creep up on their prey at leisure before striking.
The frogfish is a rather ineffective member of the anglerfish family. They can't swim very well and usually stay close to the ocean floor, but they're surprisingly effective hunters. They use the strange wobbly appendages attached to their bodies to mimic the movements of worms or other tasty bait.
The green heron uses similar techniques to the average recreational Sunday fisherman. It gathers bait at the edge of the water, such as leaves, twigs, and bread. This lures fish close enough that the heron can stab them with its long, sharp beak, and then swallow them whole.
Their prey of choice tends to be ground mammals such as snakes, rats, and large insects. When they spot a snake, for example, they rush towards it at speed and start rapidly stomping on it with their feet. They flap their wings to distract it and further fluster the snake while they crush it to death.
The fish get caught in the sudden turbulence and the whales simply open their mouths and scoop them up. A whale can eat a ton (900 kg) of herring in one day with this method.
The archerfish has the impressive ability to shoot jets of water from its mouth at high speed and with great precision to incapacitate its prey. It usually hovers close to the water's surface hunting for insects.
Dolphins are friendly, highly intelligent, empathetic creatures, but they still gotta eat. They live in both rivers and oceans, and feed on fish, shrimp, and squid. They find their prey using echolocation and then employ a technique called mud plume feeding.
This creepy water snake uses its entire body to catch its prey. The snake will position itself so its head is on one side of the desired fish and its tail is on the other. It will flick its tail to give the fish a fright, causing it to swim in the opposite direction—right into the snake's mouth.
The dolphins will hunt in a group and when they spot a school of tasty fish, they start to beat the river or sea bed underneath them to cloud the water with swirls of mud or sand. The fish become confused and try to escape the murky patch of water, only to swim straight into the waiting mouths of the dolphins who have positioned themselves all around.
The bolas spider uses the same trick and has even been nicknamed the cowboy spider for its ability to lasso its prey!
These sweet-looking nocturnal cats are incredibly devilish when they hunt. The margay often hunts mammals like squirrels and monkeys. It has a special talent that helps it attract its prey: it can perfectly mimic the cry of a baby monkey. This naturally attracts its prey, creating the prime opportunity for an ambush.
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As the golden eagle has already proven, birds can be the most vicious of predators. The secretary bird is another perfect example of how such an unassuming creature can be unexpectedly vicious. They have long legs of around 4 ft (1.2 m) and spend most of their time strutting around on the ground, even though they can fly.
When it comes to its larger prey, the golden eagle has a unique and frankly bizarre way of immobilizing them. When hunting a goat or deer on high ground, the eagle will swoop down and snatch the animal up with its talons. It then throws the creature off the side of the mountain. It watches to see where its prey lands and flies down to feast. The golden eagle can carry an animal of up to 260 lbs (115 kg).
The stoat isn’t the largest or most ferocious predator, so it uses other skills to disarm its prey. When a stoat spots a group of rabbits, it starts to perform a bizarre dance for them, twisting and jumping and twirling. This tends to mesmerize the onlookers as the stoat slowly moves closer and closer. When the moment is right, it strikes and grabs the closest rabbit for dinner.
The boa constrictor's MO is revealed by its name, but that doesn't make it any less freaky. These large, nonvenomous snakes ambush their prey, grabbing them with their teeth and wrapping themselves around the helpless animals. They tighten their grip, slowly crushing the animal to death before consuming it.
Their bodies can be 12 inches (30 cm) in length and have stingers at the end. They use the stinger to stab at passing bats, paralyzing them and then taking around an hour to slowly consume them.
When it spots one, it spews a powerful jet of water, sometimes from a dozen feet (over 3.5 m) away. If it misses the first time, it will keep trying and can shoot seven streams from its mouth at the same time!
This attracts their prey, usually a crustacean or another fish. When it gets close enough, the frogfish rushes at it with its large mouth wide open.
Humpback whales are highly intelligent animals, a fact which is reflected in their hunting skills. One technique they use requires a team effort. They start to make noises near a school of fish to send them into a panic. The fish swim toward the surface to escape, but the whales trap them there by blowing vigorous bubbles.
Sharks enter a state of paralysis when they're upside down, making them an easy meal for the whale.
The animal kingdom is pretty rough. It's easy to look at all manner of wonderful creatures through the eyes of an animal lover and appreciate how adorable or majestic they are, but at the end of the day everybody's gotta eat, and it's a dog-eat-dog world out there! Every creature is either predator, prey, or both, and they have to get smart to survive and get fed. That being said, the way some animals have evolved to hunt and kill their prey is just downright weird! From throwing goats off cliffs to hypnotizing through the art of dance, there are some rather 'unique' methods out there.
Curious? Click through this gallery to discover some of the strangest ways animals kill their prey.
The weirdest ways animals kill their prey
From the brutal to the bizarre
LIFESTYLE Nature
The animal kingdom is pretty rough. It's easy to look at all manner of wonderful creatures through the eyes of an animal lover and appreciate how adorable or majestic they are, but at the end of the day everybody's gotta eat, and it's a dog-eat-dog world out there! Every creature is either predator, prey, or both, and they have to get smart to survive and get fed. That being said, the way some animals have evolved to hunt and kill their prey is just downright weird! From throwing goats off cliffs to hypnotizing through the art of dance, there are some rather 'unique' methods out there.
Curious? Click through this gallery to discover some of the strangest ways animals kill their prey.