Exploding animal

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An exploding animal is an animal that literally explodes either through natural causes or with the intervention of humans. While such happenings are rare, there are many documented cases over a wide range of different animals.

One of the most famous cases, well-known because of footage being spread across the Internet, is that of the exploding whale. In this case, dynamite was used to remove the carcass of a dead whale.

1 Causes of explosions
- 1.1 Natural explosion
- 1.2 Explosive devices
2 Other occurrences
- 2.1 Urban legends
- 2.2 Memes
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Causes of explosions

[edit] Natural explosion

Natural explosions can occur for a variety of reasons. One whale explosion was caused by a build-up of natural gases.^[1] A significant population of toads in Germany and Denmark were exploding in April 2005 in an act described as a self-defence mechanism that failed, as it consisted of puffing up to look bigger while under attack by crows.^[2]

[edit] Explosive devices

Various military experiments have involved the use of animals with explosive devices attached to them. During World War II the U.S. "Bat bombs"^[3] saw bats carrying small incendiary bombs, while the Soviet Union developed "anti-tank dogs".^[4] More recent times have seen the use of donkeys carrying explosives.

[edit] Other occurrences

[edit] Urban legends

Many reports of exploding animals have proven to be urban legends. The ability to explode a cow by lighting the plentiful methane it produces, for example, is known to be impossible. Another common story is that feeding birds with dry grains would cause a bird explosion.

[edit] Memes

Some cases of exploding animals are simply memes spread through a variety of media. The exploding sheep, for example, features in numerous computer games.

The topic is a concept written on by American humourist Dave Barry, in his 1991 book Dave Barry Talks Back. In the book, he claims to be researching for what he calls the Exploding Animal Institute or the Exploding Animal Research Institute. He describes the material as "alarming" and "scary," and jokes that "If you read this column regularly, you definitely need to get some kind of psychotherapy."^[5]