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Top 10 Animal POWER MOVES

2010-03-25 · John · watch on YouTube · Science & nature · curiosity idea

For Top 10 week, John counts down ten animal 'power moves', from the bombardier beetle's acid spray to his number one, a carpenter ant that blows itself up to poison its enemy.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; praise for Hank's Monday list; John's Top 10 Animal Power Moves

  • ★★ Praising Hank's Monday list, John presents his own entry for the theme week: the top 10 animal power moves. — 00:00:00

00:00:08 — Power moves 10-6: bombardier beetle, giraffe, Cantor's giant softshell turtle, hairy frog, cuttlefish

  • ★★ John says the threatened bombardier beetle turns around and sprays boiling hot acid out of its butt. (playful) — 00:00:08
  • ★★ John says a giraffe kick has been known to decapitate a lion. — 00:00:17 · giraffe
  • ★ John reminds Hank how he loves giraffes before ranking the giraffe's kick ninth. (playful) — 00:00:19 · giraffe
  • ★★ John says Cantor's giant softshell turtle covers itself with sand in a riverbank and sits still 23.5 hours a day, moving only to eat. — 00:00:28
  • ★★ John says the frog Trichobatrachus robustus, when threatened, breaks a bone in its own foot and uses the fragment as a claw to stab. — 00:01:00
  • ★★ John says cuttlefish light up in blue, green, orange and yellow, swim over to prey as if inviting it to a party, and eat it. (playful) — 00:01:13

00:01:31 — Power moves 5-1: baby potato beetles, Mabra elephantophila, funnel-web spider, platypus, exploding carpenter ant

  • ★★ John says baby potato beetles, lacking adults' hard shells, cover their bodies in their own poisonous poop to discourage predators. — 00:01:31
  • ★★ John says the moth Mabra elephantophila gets most of its sustenance from elephant tears, scratching elephants' eyes to make them cry more. — 00:01:55
  • ★★ John says Americans fear black widows, but Australian funnel-web spiders are very aggressive and their fangs can shoot through human fingernails. — 00:02:19
  • ★★ John says platypuses are among the very few egg-laying mammals and have electrolocation, sensing the electromagnetic fields of predators' muscle contractions. — 00:02:39
  • ★★★ John's number one: the carpenter ant Camponotus saundersi, about to lose a fight, contracts its abdomen so hard its body explodes, spraying poison. — 00:03:06

00:03:33 — Ask for viewers' power moves; reading their diseases; sign-off

  • ★★ John asks Nerdfighters to share their favorite animal power moves in the comments. — 00:03:33 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★ John says it has been fascinating to read about the diseases viewers have. — 00:03:36

Humor (significant)

  • Giraffes are like the Chuck Norris of the animal kingdom. — 00:00:20 > «When they roundhouse kick you, you forget what time it is.»
  • A turtle that sits still 23.5 hours a day moving only to eat sounds a lot like John's life. — 00:00:55 > «only Cantor's softshell turtle gets to live on the beach and I have to live in Indianapolis.»
  • John voices a cuttlefish lighting up like a disco ball and inviting prey to a crazy rave. — 00:01:30 > «You just got eaten.»
  • A phone rings right after John says funnel-web fangs can shoot through human fingernails. — 00:02:35 > «That's so scary, someone had to call me about it.»

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