Animals live in the world and in some special cases behave insanely. For example, self-harm, destruction, collective migration, etc., but animals that will devour themselves, are quite rare.
Today I would like to introduce you to the rare animals that I know of that can devour themselves, and some animals will eat their brains even when they grow up.
Crickets are very common insects and feed for many organisms. But cricket keepers sometimes observe that crickets have a lot of special behaviors, the most exaggerated of which is to swallow their own thighs. To explain why it swallows itself, we must first explore its eating habits, and crickets are omnivorous animals. Eat a wide variety of things, such as fish, bird feed, vegetables, ants, etc., and even their own molting and dead companions. The ultimate goal is to get enough nutrients, especially the old skin that the crickets themselves have shed, which contains the important trace elements needed in the cricket's body. Therefore, crickets will regularly eat their own molts to supplement nutrition. But in some special cases, crickets did not choose to eat their old skin, they would choose to swallow their thighs to supplement nutrition. This usually occurs in artificially fed crickets, and in the case of thigh injuries due to harsh environments, crickets can also cut off their thighs and swallow. Even so, it's still hard to understand that there could be creatures that eat their bodies to avoid malnutrition.
The hoop snake is a snake commonly found in the western United States, on the Mexican plateau, feeding on insects, lizards and small snakes. The reason why it is called a hoop snake is due to the strange self-feeding behavior. This particular snake can also devour its own tail, even to the point of suffocating itself. Scientists are quite curious about this behavior, and at first many people thought it was caused by a special parasite or disease. But after research, it was found that the hoop snake attacked its tail because of its strong hunting impulse. Just as dogs run after their tails and cats have a keen interest in teasing cat sticks, animals with a hunting nature have an instinct to hunt moving objects. When the environment in which the hoop snake is located lacks prey, and the strong hunting impulse is not released, it is possible to turn the target to its own wagging tail. This scenario is especially more likely to occur in captive hoop snakes, and more severe cases of suffocation and death. Compared with the monotonous environment of captivity, the hoop snake is still more suitable for nature full of prey.
Often referred to as the most intelligent invertebrate, octopuses not only have strong hunting abilities, but also know how to survive when encountering danger, and have extraordinary regenerative abilities. Even if the tentacles are eaten by predators, they can regenerate in a short period of time, showing their strong survival ability. But although the octopus is a powerful animal, it is also one of the most sensitive animals and is quite sensitive to changes in the environment. In particular, the captive octopus may feel strong pressure due to insufficient feed or overcrowded space, and the way the octopus relieves the pressure is to devour its tentacles. It is strange that octopus with strong regenerative ability will lose the instinct to regenerate under high pressure environments, and tentacles that are eaten by themselves will not be able to regenerate.
Everyone is quite familiar with the ability of geckos to survive with their tails broken. When it encounters danger, the gecko will cut off its tail. The severed tail, because the nerves have not yet lost its function, will also swing on its own to attract the attention of the enemy. This is known in zoology as self-cutting behavior, but in fact some rare geckos not only cut off their tails, but also use their own tails as food. It is said that a netizen raised a Madagascar stump-toed tiger, which is a gecko belonging to the genus Ofi Shougong, with a particularly bright green color and a much larger body than the average gecko. One day, while playing in a plastic box, it accidentally fell from a high place and injured its tail. Netizens observed its tail and found that it had injured nerves and could not move. A few days later, it was found that the toe tiger had cut off its injured tail. This is no different from the average gecko, but this is a bright green toe tiger that eats its tail as a big meal. It turns out that this kind of toe tiger can obtain the nutrients needed for regeneration by devouring its own tail, and use this to quickly metabolize and grow a new tail in a short period of time. Sure enough, within a few days, the netizen's toe tiger dragged his new tail around alive as before.
Sea squirts are the only creatures in the world that devour their own brains. Sea squirts can move around at an early age, but when they reach adulthood, they attach themselves to rocks or other objects and are often mistaken for plants. The original life form of the sea squirt was a swimming larvae, a tadpole-like animal. The sea squirt has a complex nervous system, but once the sea squirt attaches to the rock to live, this complex nervous system becomes a superfluous system for the sea squirt because the brain is no longer needed to regulate the body's activities. The sea squirt therefore breaks down and absorbs the original tail, brain, nervous system, etc. Eating yourself to add nutrients to yourself, which seems crazy, is a fairly intelligent act in the eyes of scientists. Since the brain exists for exercise, when the sea squirt's lifestyle changes and there is no longer a need for exercise, the brain becomes a useless organ, so it is quite a wise choice to eat it. Moreover, the sea squirt's life pattern from brain to brainless has lasted for more than half a billion years. It can be seen that the sea squirt's way of life, from complex to simple, has made its race a long-term continuation.
Are you intimidated by the behavior of these animals? If you were hungry, would you take a bite out of your own hand?