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.

Contents

[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]

There are several species of ants, such as Camponotus saundersi, in south east Asia that explode as a defensive mechanism.[3][4]

[edit] Exploding people

People have also exploded from natural causes. One famous example is that of William the Conqueror. King William I of England was very heavy-set, and at age 60 he was injured when his horse jostled, walking on a hot coal left after burning a town during a siege. William's intestines were ruptured, and he suffered a slow, painful death from peritonitis. It was at the end of a hot summer, there was no refrigeration, and the funeral had to wait until nobles and luminaries had travelled to the church for the funeral. And so his body swelled beyond the size of the coffin that had been made. According to the Oxford Illustrated History of Britain:

On 9 September 1087, William I died. His body was carried to his great church of St. Stephen at Caen. Towards the end of his life he had grown very fat, and when the attendants tried to force the body into the stone sarcophagus, it burst, filling the church with a foul smell. It was an unfortunate ending to the career of an unusually fortunate and competent king.[5]

A slightly more detailed account from Panati (1999) includes:

From postmortem decay the abscess had turgidly putrefied, bloating the corpse and expanding its girth. A group of bishops applied pressure on the king's abdomen to force the body downward (in the coffin) but it moved only inches; the lid still would not shut. Again they pushed, and the abdominal wall, already under intense internal pressure, burst. Pus and putrefaction drenched the king's death garb and seeped throughout the coffin. The stench so overpowered chapel mourners that, hands to noses, many raced for the doors.[6]

[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"[7] saw bats carrying small incendiary bombs, while the Soviet Union developed "anti-tank dogs".[8] More recent times have seen the use of donkeys carrying explosives and kamikaze dolphins that seek and destroy submarines as well as enemy warships.[1]

[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."[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Sperm whale explodes in Taiwanese City," eTaiwan News, January 27, 2004 (accessed November 17, 2006).
  2. ^ "Mystery of German exploding toads," BBC News, April 27, 2005 (accessed November 17, 2006).
  3. ^ The Chemistry of Exploding Ants, Camponotus SPP. (Cylindricus COMPLEX), T. H. Jones, D. A. Clark1, A. A. Edwards, D. W. Davidson, T. F. Spande and R. R. Snelling, Journal of Chemical Ecology, Volume 30, Number 8 / August, 2004, ISSN 0098-0331 (Print) 1573-1561 (Online)
  4. ^ Exploding Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animals Adapt, Joanne Settel, Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon& Schuster, New York, NY, 1999 ISBN 0-689-81739-8.
  5. ^ The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, Kenneth O. Morgan (editor), Oxford University Press (September 1, 1984) ISBN-10: 0198226845
  6. ^ The Browser's Book of Endings: The End of Practically Everything and Everybody, Charles Panati, Penguin (Non-Classics); Reissue edition (December 1, 1999), ISBN-10: 014028690X
  7. ^ The Bat Bombers, C. V. Glines, Journal of the Airforce Association, October 1990, Vol. 73, No. 10 (accessed November 17, 2006).
  8. ^ Dog Anti-Tank Mine, Soviet-Empire.com (accessed November 17, 2006).
  9. ^ Quotes regarding exploding animals from Dave Barry Talks Back, (accessed November 17, 2006).
Exploding animals and other exploding organisms
Bat | Bird | Chicken | Dog | Donkey | Human
Rat | Sheep | Snake | Termite | Toad | Tree | Whale
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