Nature’s creativity has no bounds. While many of us are familiar with the classic and common animal defences like claws and teeth, the animals of India push self-preservation to a whole different level. From being covered in armour to camouflaging effortlessly, wildlife has come up with some of the strangest yet impressive defence mechanisms one can possibly imagine. Let us venture into India’s animal world, where survival mechanisms seem to be straight out of a science fiction film!
1. The Indian toad – Toxic to Taste
The moderate-sized Indian toad (Bufo melanostictus), also known as the Asian common toad, has a clever way of protecting itself from predators. When threatened, it releases a milky white toxin from special glands known as parotoid glands that are located behind its eyes. This secretion is a potent chemical known as bufotoxin that can severely affect the heart, nerves, and blood of the toad’s predator. Consuming this is sure to cause fatality, especially for smaller animals.
- With a stare that dares and a skin armed with a chemical defense, the Indian toad sits with an air of confidence. [Photo © Canva]
2. The Tokay Gecko – The Tail that Tricks
The Indian tropical forest never fails to surprise when it comes to the diverse species it houses. Here lives the tokay gecko (Gekko gecko), one of the largest geckos that has a bizarre yet brilliant defence mechanism. When under threat, it simply detaches its tail from its body, distracting the predator with its severed wriggling tail. This gives the gecko a perfect opportunity to escape!
- A twitch, a tumble, a second chance — when danger strikes, the tokay gecko trades a tail for its life. [Photo © Canva]
The amazing defence mechanism is called autotomy, a biological phenomenon where an animal can voluntarily shed a body part. The presence of lines resembling rows of perforations exist on the tail’s skin, muscles, tissues, and even its bones and help the tail to separate itself easily when triggered by a threat.
3. The Indian Giant Squirrel – Leaping Experts
The Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) may be large in size, but is known for its agility to evade danger. This multicoloured squirrel, which inhabits India’s forests in Western and Eastern Ghats as well as the hills of central India, can jump from tree to tree with remarkable speed and accuracy. It manages to grab hold of tree branches and trunks with its strong claws, and maintain balance in its movement with its long tail. While known to be arboreal and shy in nature, the size and its maroon, black and cream coat make it noticeable. It has a capacity to leap a distance of nearly 20 feet between trees to keep its threat at bay! The Indian giant squirrel holds an essential position in its ecology and carries the title of being the state animal of Maharashtra.
- High above the forest floor, the Indian giant squirrel turns treetops into trampolines — vanishing in a blur before danger even lands a glance. [Photo © Canva]
4. The Indian Pangolin – A Rolling Armour
While the giant squirrel relies on speed, the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) takes a more static approach to defence. The pangolin, which lives in grasslands and forests, uses a strong defence mechanism to curl into an impenetrable ball and “play dead” when it feels threatened. The tough protective armour-like scales of the pangolin are made up of keratin, the same material our nails are made of, and acts effective against large predators like tigers, leopards, lions or hyenas that cannot penetrate this.
- When trouble approaches, the Indian pangolin doesn’t fight or flee — it emits a smelly gas to thwart the predator, and if that’s not enough, it simply curls up to make its scales of armour act as its shield. [Photo © Wildlife SOS]
Curling into a ball also helps the pangolin to shield the only area of their body that is uncovered by scales — its underbelly. Stunning biological features can help this species to protect themselves against their wild threats, but unfortunately, pangolins happen to be the most poached species in the world.
5. The Indian Star Tortoise – A Living Fortress
Rolling up into an impenetrable ball is what the pangolin does, but the Indian star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) tends to take another calculated approach to protect itself: it retreats into its tough shell. The star-spotted shell of this tortoise has evolved as a sturdy covering to safeguard the reptile. When threatened, the tortoise pulls its head and limbs into its hard shell, sitting tight until the threat has passed. The pattern and colouring of the shell also camouflages the species within India’s semi-arid forests and scrublands.
- Wildlife SOS in its anti-poaching operations has rescued Indian star tortoises, categorised as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, from illegal captivity and pet trade. [Photo © Wildlife SOS]
6. The Nairobi Fly – A Silent Crawler with a Secret Weapon
The Nairobi fly (Paederus eximius and Paederus sabaeus) isn’t actually a fly — it belongs to the family of beetles. But this isn’t the only unusual aspect about it. The Nairobi fly is host to symbiotic bacteria that lives within them. This bacteria releases pederin, a chemical toxin, when the beetle is disturbed or is slightly (even unintentionally) squashed by humans. The toxin seeps into the human skin, causing painful burns, blisters, and a condition known as dermatitis. Simply put, the striking red and black body of the Nairobi fly is armed with chemical warfare that is released with a vengeance on to its primary threat — human beings.
- The Nairobi fly wears a vivid warning in red and black as it carries a toxin that can cause burns and severe itching on human skin. [Photo © Wikimedia Commons]
Indian fauna truly showcases how diversified and inventive nature can be when it comes to surviving. Their incredible defence mechanisms are biological features that have been precisely calibrated and designed over thousands of years of evolution. As we stop in awe of these peculiar adaptations, let us also not forget our role in protecting and conserving wild habitats that allow animals to display such extraordinary skills.
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Feature image: Akash Dolas / Wildlife SOS
