Regarding bees:
Another interesting thing about bees (and wasps and ants) is that their method of reproduction is quite weird at the genetic/chromosome level.
I can't remember the details of how it works, but the result is that worker bees are more closely related to their sisters than they would be to any offspring they had.
This in turn means that the best way for a bee to pass on "its" genes is to work for the good of the colony (sacrificing itself if necessary), rather producing and protecting its own young.
I saw a documentary once about Japanese bees and hornets.
Japanese giant hornets prey on bees and other insects. Their exoskeleton is too tough for bee stings to penetrate (and/or they are resistant to their venom). Non-native bees are defenseless against them, and a small squad of hornets can slaughter an entire hive within hours.
Native Japanese bees have evolved a defense however. Instead of attacking the hornets as soon as they approach their hive, they hang back, and allow the hornet to enter (the hornets send out lone scouts to find bee-hives to raid). Then, all of a sudden, the bees swarm all over the hornet, not stinging it, but smothering it, and buzzing frenetically to produce as much body heat as possible. The bees have a higher heat tolerance than the hornets, and the hornet is literally cooked alive.
Regarding other impressive defenses:
The cassowary can kill a man with a kick to the throat, and I've seen video footage of one making a flying kick-type attack at a man protected by a police riot shield, and knocking him back several feet.
Another interesting thing about bees (and wasps and ants) is that their method of reproduction is quite weird at the genetic/chromosome level.
I can't remember the details of how it works, but the result is that worker bees are more closely related to their sisters than they would be to any offspring they had.
This in turn means that the best way for a bee to pass on "its" genes is to work for the good of the colony (sacrificing itself if necessary), rather producing and protecting its own young.
I saw a documentary once about Japanese bees and hornets.
Japanese giant hornets prey on bees and other insects. Their exoskeleton is too tough for bee stings to penetrate (and/or they are resistant to their venom). Non-native bees are defenseless against them, and a small squad of hornets can slaughter an entire hive within hours.
Native Japanese bees have evolved a defense however. Instead of attacking the hornets as soon as they approach their hive, they hang back, and allow the hornet to enter (the hornets send out lone scouts to find bee-hives to raid). Then, all of a sudden, the bees swarm all over the hornet, not stinging it, but smothering it, and buzzing frenetically to produce as much body heat as possible. The bees have a higher heat tolerance than the hornets, and the hornet is literally cooked alive.
Regarding other impressive defenses:
The cassowary can kill a man with a kick to the throat, and I've seen video footage of one making a flying kick-type attack at a man protected by a police riot shield, and knocking him back several feet.