How does a death roll work?

W hen a peacock mantis shrimp strikes, it generates the heat of a star. The crustacean retracts a spring-loaded mouthpart known as a dactyl club and puts it on a latch, like a cowboy cocking the hamme

Piranhas have a reputation as some of the most dangerous freshwater hunters: terrifying predators capable of devouring a large mammal in mere minutes. Hollywood horror films have a lot to answer for.

The theatre has seen many a human stage a hammy death, but few are quite as dramatic as those that occur in the animal kingdom every day. The ability to play dead, otherwise known as tonic immobility

● It had been, until that point, an ...

SNAKE EYES Dr Bryan Fry (left) with Will ...

Clouds of noxious gas, stink bombs and purple smokescreens may sound like schoolboy pranks, but the animal world is just as capable of executing arresting chemical warfare, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee