The superglue slug and other amazing animal defenders

When it comes to sticking up for themselves, nature has given animals some pretty zany defence mechanisms.

The latest discovery comes from Australia where biologist John Gould spotted a frog stuck to a tree when out for a hike.

Looking closer he realised it had been glued to the branch! Next to it, a suspicious-looking slug...

Turns out, the red triangle slug secretes a mucus that's so sticky it acts like a super-glue, stopping predators in their tracks.

The frog survived, but a day later it was still stuck fast and even when researchers prised it free, the sticky mucus on the frog's body kept getting stuck to the container it was placed in.

So that got us thinking about other weird ways animals protect themselves from predators. Here are our favourites... be warned, some of them are pretty gross!

The sea cucum-BUM-ber

OK, so if you're eating you might want to skip this one...

The sea cucumber might seem like one of the least dynamic animals around... but when under attack they go all out to protect themselves.

This guy can squirts its digestive system out of its backside. Yep - you read that right - guts out of bum-hole in one big tangly, sticky mess.

Not only that, but the sea cucumber survives its explosive defence and can even eat food by absorbing it straight into the digestive system dangling out of its butt.

Euuwww!!!

The bone-breaking frog

This one's straight out of a horror movie.

When threatened, the hairy frog goes to extreme lengths to protect itself...

This guy breaks its own bones and pushes them out through the pads of its toes to form sharp claws.

Scary, right?!

The exploding ants

High in the trees in Borneo live the Colobopsis explodens ants.

These tiny critters have an explosive secret... When threatened by predators, the worker ants tighten their muscles so hard that their skin pops - covering their enemies with a toxic sticky yellow goo.

They're not the only ones - at least 15 known exploding ant species are known around the world.

And while the ant soldiers don't survive the explosion, it's all in a day's work to protect the colony.

The slime GOAT

No, not a real goat. We're talking about the greatest slimer of all time - the hagfish.

The hagfish is a big, squishy sausage-like animal that lives at the bottom of the ocean.

It doesn't have jaws but does has a special way of defending itself - by letting out epic amounts of slime to suffocate its enemies!

And if you think you're safe from the hagfish here on dry land, don't be so sure!

This picture shows what happened when a truck carrying hagfish overturned on the road in Oregon, USA - and the slime covered a car.

Gross!

The stinky beetle

Here's a defence that would keep your enemies at their distance - and your friends too.

Baby tortoise beetles use their own poo to protect themselves from predators.

When they need to go, they push their poop up onto their own backs, creating what's known as a "faecal shield". Yep, that literally means a poo shield!

The toxic poop puts predators off coming near the little beetle babies.

The blood-spraying lizard

If you were a tiny lizard about to get snapped up by a wolf, you'd be forgiven for wanting to cry.

But the Texas Horned Lizard has a special trick to defend itself from predators... Squirting blood out of its eyes!

A pouch just underneath the lizard's eyes swells and fills with blood.

The lizard can then make this blood spurt out at high pressure. These bloody tears can travel up to 2 metres in distance.

Nasty!