RIVERSIDE, Calif.-- Smart boxers bind their hands with strips of cloth to avoid injury when they pack a punch. Millions of years ago, the "smasher" mantis shrimp, one of nature's feistiest predators, ...

The mantis shrimp comes equipped with its own weapons. It has claws that look like permanently clenched fists that are known as dactyl clubs. But when it smashes the shells of its prey, these fists ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. At first glance, the mantis shrimp is an unassuming ...

Despite their name, mantis shrimp are not true shrimp but a type of stomatopod: a relative of crabs and lobsters that has been on Earth for over 400 million years. There are more than 400 different ...

Mantis shrimp withstand repeated high-impact forces without structural damage. Researchers discovered the shrimp's clubs feature a protective pattern that controls how stress waves travel through its ...

Size matters to the small-but-mighty mantis shrimp, which show a marked preference for burrows in coral rubble with volumes that closely match their own body size or are just a bit larger—in other ...

Mantis shrimp pack the strongest punch of any creature in the animal kingdom. How mantis shrimp produce these deadly, ultra-fast movements has long fascinated biologists. Now, an interdisciplinary ...

Last week I discovered, via Discover Magazine in fact, that the marvellous mantis shrimp was not quite the creature I thought it to be. Mantis shrimp - or Stomatopods - as we science types like to ...

Peacock mantis shrimp like Douglas are “called thumb-splitters in the aquarium business,” said Elliot Provance, director of living collections and exhibitions at Discovery Place. ALEX CASON Among the ...

When you think about fearsome predators in the ocean, the first thing that pops into your mind is probably a shark. Sure, sharks are okay, with their sleek, menacing shape and their gaping jaws with ...