Bombardier Beetle

The Bombardier Beetle is found worldwide and is a tiny insect with big firepower. It mixes hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide inside its abdomen, releasing a boiling chemical explosion at over 100°C, sometimes firing multiple bursts in rapid succession like a chemical machine gun. Remarkably, these beetles expel a concoction so hot that when predators such as toads swallow them, the expelled chemicals often force the predator to vomit them back up. In an infamous incident, Charles Darwin once placed a bombardier beetle between his teeth-and it sprayed acid into his mouth.

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