Monday 15 April 2019

Can Any Animal Breathe Fire Like the "Mythical" Dragon?

Saint George resisted the dragon’s fire.




Joel Kontinen

Yes, “Skunks and bombardier beetles (Pheropsophus jessoensis), which fart a toxic chemical cocktail when threatened.

Evolution has tried to answer the creationist’s question of where the animal got this talent. A just-so story that can never be verified is their answer. When threatened by a predator, the beetle squirts hot (100 °C or 212 °F) fluid at the attacker. It makes the fluid from hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinones but does just fine..

These beetles' farts are so powerful that they can prompt toads that have eaten the beetles to puke out their last meal. That's exactly what the beetle wants; it may be covered with mucus from the toad's stomach, but sometimes these beetles can survive the ordeal.”

However, when it comes to fighting with fire, Australian raptors take first prize. Three species of these predatory birds Down Under — black kites (Milvus migrans), whistling kites (Haliastur sphenurus) and brown falcons (Falco berigora) — are known to lurk by wildfires and then suddenly snatch up smoldering grasses or branches with their talons. The birds then use the fire to kindle new flames elsewhere, which, in turn, smoke out mammals and insect prey that they can eat.”

But they simply take the fire from one place, they don’t produce it. However, Dragons are found in the deeps of the earth and in Chinese horoscopes.

Source:

Geggel, Laura 2019. Can Any Animal Breathe Fire Like the Mythical Dragon? Live Science (13 April):