The bombardier beetle defends itself by squirting predators (ants, frogs, spiders) with a high-pressure jet of boiling liquid in a rapid-fire action called pulse combustion. It’s practically a miniature fire breathing dragon, just the fire comes out the other end!

How does this miniature “dragon” shoot out a spray that is not only noxious, but is also heated to 212º F, a temperature hotter than boiling water? This little beetle was studied, and it was discovered that the beetle has two chemicals stored in its body, hydrogen peroxide dissolved in water, and hydroquinone. If you mixed the two chemicals, the peroxide would oxidize the hydroquinone. But the beetle adds an inhibitor to stop the hydrogen from oxidizing the hydroquinone. These chemicals are mixed in the beetle with no reaction. When a predator such as a bullfrog comes along, the beetle squirts the chemicals into a combustion chamber. He then mixes in two enzymes, catalyse and peroxidise, a catalyst (a catalyst is a chemical that makes chemical reactions happen extremely fast, without any actual change to the catalyst itself, allowing the catalyst to be used over, and over…). The chemicals and the the enzymes mix and produce another chemical, quinine, which smells bad. He holds these chemicals in storage chambers which he has in his body.

When an enemy such as our bullfrog comes along looking for a lunch, the beetle squirts the chemical’s into combustion chambers, adding two enzymes which act as “anti-inhibitor’s.” The chemicals and the the enzymes mix and produce another chemical, quinine, which smells bad. This all happens at a extremely fast rate, fast enough to heat the chemicals to 212º F, and generating a lot of pressure. Finally, when there’s enough pressure, the bombardier beetle opens the valves which he has at the end of his combustion tube, and KA-BOOM. Good-bye predator.

Scientists have also found that some species can shoot out this spray at the rate of 500 pulses per second. Now how could this beetle have evolved from a ordinary beetle as evolutionists say?

The bombardier beetle’s unique natural combustion technique is being studied to see if it can be copied for use in the aircraft industry. Scientists studying the bombardier beetle’s jet-based defence mechanism hope it will help to solve a problem that can occasionally occur at high altitude – re-igniting a gas turbine aircraft engine which has cut out, when the outside air temperature is as low as minus 50 degrees Centigrade!

Categories: Animals