Name: Kangaroo Rats Are Furry, Spring-Loaded Ninjas | Deep Look
Uploaded: 2021-09-27T14:18:30.000Z
Duration: 4 min 7 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Under cover of darkness, the world is a safer place for a kangaroo rat.

It's mostly hidden from predators, while it searches for seeds - its main source of

food and water in this harsh California desert.

Like some kind of furry, spring-loaded ninja, the kangaroo rat dodges those venomous fangs.

We can see it thanks to night-vision cameras, but it's really dark out.

So how does a kangaroo rat escape almost certain death?

Scientists think they can hear the slightest change in air pressure - caused by a snake

Its hearing is ninety times more sensitive than ours.

That hyper-sensitivity is mostly thanks to these giant hollow spaces in its skull - known

They act as natural amplifiers - kind of like how a small sound echoes in a large cave.

When it senses danger, the rat kicks into action, propelled by its powerful hind legs.

Thick tendons and large muscles mean a super-fast reaction time.

And their legs are huge in proportion to their body size.

That helps the rat twist out of the rattlesnake's jaws, stabilize, and land on its feet.

Even when it looks like the snake has a bullseye, the rat uses those powerful legs to kick free,

before the snake can inject its lethal dose of venom.

This all happens in a matter of milliseconds, faster than the blink of an eye.

Sometimes, the rats do lose this battle, but in one study, researchers found that three

quarters of the time, they survive the snake attacks and make it back to their burrows,

And sometimes, the best defense is a good offense.

So kangaroo rats aren't the only warrior rodents in the desert.

The southern grasshopper mouse has a taste for scorpions - sting and all.

And lastly, if you're a Deep Look super fan, why not join hundreds of others on Patreon

for special behind-the-scenes content, early access to episodes, and more.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Kangaroo Rats Are Furry, Spring-Loaded Ninjas | Deep Look

content

access

matter

description