In our consciousness, snakes eat frogs, frogs eat insects; insects eat plants. However, there are always some "savage" species in nature's food chain that don't follow the rules. They are the opposite, for example frogs eat snakes, insects eat frogs, etc. In fact, these strange food chains that make human beings strange are staged every day in nature.
In the Panamanian jungle of South America, there is a frog that weighs very lightly, only 40 grams, so biologists call it a smoke frog. The smoke frog looks like an ordinary frog, but the snakes in the forest hide far away when they see it. Such a small frog, why are snakes afraid of it?
It turns out that the smoke frog mainly feeds on snakes, and it can generally eat a snake that is several times larger than it, and a snake or two meters long is not a problem at all. So how does the smoke frog do it with a snack? It turns out that it is born with a special ability, that is, the color of its skin can change randomly, and what color the surrounding environment is, its skin color will become what color!
The frog is an amphibian, and so is the smoke frog, but it generally lives in the forest by the water's edge, it can't do without the water, but it rarely lives on the water! If it is in the water, it must be hiding in the water to "ambush" a snake on the shore. Being good at camouflage is not the real snake hunting ability of the smoke frog, in fact, it also has a "secret" weapon that can help it quickly subdue the snake. This weapon was the two protruding hard muscles in its chest.
The smoke frog is very fierce, these two muscles are like a meat pliers, it can firmly hold the snake until it is powerless to fight back, and finally bite the snake's head, and when the snake can't move, it will pull the snake down little by little. Speaking of which, do you think this picture is simply the other way around? Yes, the way smoke frogs devour snakes is actually the technique of snakes preying on other animals. This is exactly in response to the saying: Treat yourself the way you are! The smoke frog can be said to have rewritten the history of the frog world!
In nature, in fact, not only the anti-phenomenon of frogs eating snakes, but also another relatively rare anti-phenomenon, that is, insects eat frogs. It's really big in the world, there are no wonders! What kind of insect abandons its habit of eating plants and instead eats its natural enemies? Next, there is another picture that subverts our perception.
There is an insect in the insect kingdom called the yellow-edged walker, which is also called the Epomys beetle. This kind of bug seems to have been born to rewrite the history of their insect world! There are three stages in total, but from the larval of the yellow-edged walker worm, it is attached to a task: hunting frogs!
Frogs have always preyed on insects, so in the frog's world, it doesn't take insects seriously! However, the yellow-edged walking insect uses the "advantages" of frogs to turn them into "weaknesses". How does it do it? The larval walking insect generally lies lazily in the dirt, and when the frog comes close to it, it attaches itself tightly to the flesh of the frog, and then secretes digestive enzymes from its mouth, which alienates the tissue of the frog and cannot move, and then slowly sucks the liquid and nutrients on the frog.
It usually stays on the frog for 3 to 4 days, and the wounds bitten by the yellow-edged walker will gradually fester, eventually causing the frog to die. After eating a frog, the walking insect larvae will grow very fast, and when it grows into a flying insect, it will have enough ability to hunt frogs in a bright way.
The long walking insects are large, have a hard shell, and can fly. It will secretly attack the frog from behind, attack the frog's hind legs, and when it bites the frog's flesh, it will secrete liquid to paralyze the frog. Frogs that can't run can only obediently become the food of walking insects.
According to the research of scientists, in fact, the ability of yellow-edged walking insects to eat frogs is not innate. A long time ago, they were also one of the frogs' "plates", but the yellow-edged walker is so genetically powerful that it can overcome genetic weaknesses and turn natural enemies into their own delicacies. It's amazing! In order to survive, even small animals can do counterattack, so in life, what difficulties can not be overcome?