Defense Mechanisms facts

While investigating facts about Defense Mechanisms, I found out little known, but curios details like:

There is mental disorder called Maladaptive Daydreaming which causes people to excessively daydream to escape reality as a defense mechanism due to trauma usually from abuse

One theory on why we are ticklish is that it serves as a mechanism for developing combat skills. Most often practiced from parent to child, tickling activates vulnerable areas on the body that develop a defensive reaction while producing laughter that encourages the 'attacker' to continue.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Defense Mechanisms I managed to collect.

1. Male waterfowl have a clockwise corkscrew penis. Female waterfowl have evolved a counterclockwise shaped vagina. This makes sex difficult for the waterfowl. Female waterfowl evolved non-complementary sexual organs as a defense mechanism because male waterfowl try to rape them so often.

2. Motion sickness is a psychological defense mechanism against neurotoxins. Your brain realizes there is a disconnect between what your eyes see and what your inner ear feels and concludes you are poisoned and hallucinating so it induces nausea and vomiting

3. Laughing while being tickled is actually a defensive mechanism because our bodies anticipate pain and automatically try to show submission to an aggressor.

4. The defense mechanism of the American Opossum, "Playing Dead", is an involuntary action. The opossum will seize up, evacuate bowels, and excrete "dead thing" smell from a gland

5. Glaucus, a members of the nudibranch family which are commonly referred to as sea slugs, can use the stinging cells from their prey as a defense mechanism. It does this by passing them from its gut to the surface of its skin.

6. There's a logical reason why squirrels dart back and forth across the road as a car approaches them. The zig zag "dance" is an instinctual defense mechanism to throw off potential predators, making them a less easy taget for their next meal.

7. Rough-skinned newt exposes brightly-colored belly in the case of danger. Most predators retreat at this point because of the well-known "law of nature": bright colored creatures secrete toxins as defense mechanism.

8. Between 1966 and 1983, a Canadian mental hospital forcibly administered hallucinogenic drugs to "break down their defense mechanisms", punished them for "unauthorized talking" or moving more than 4 times per hour, and chained 7 naked patients together in a room and fed them liquid food via tubes

9. The reason why cats will instinctually and rapidly kick their hind legs when playing with a toy on their backs is a defense mechanism whereas the cat is trying to disembowel their prey

10. Sap extracted from the leaves, stem, root, flowers and seed contains toxic chemicals known as furanocoumarins. These substances induce strong reaction on the human skin known as phytophotodermatitis (light-induced skin irritation). Plant's sap destroys natural defensive mechanisms which protect skin from the negative effects of the sun (more precisely of the UV rays). As a result, large burns and blisters appear on the skin.

What is true about defense mechanisms?

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50% of diet of eastern hognose snake consists of toads and frogs. Besides amphibians, it eats mice, lizards, turtles, eggs and carrion. Hatchlings eat insects. Eastern hognose snake uses large fangs to pop inflated toad (toad increases the size of the body as a defense mechanism against predators) and ease swallowing of the prey.

Since pearlfish have no defense mechanism of their own, they hide inside the anus of the sea cucumbers. They’ve been known to reproduce inside of the cucumber. - source

Cuckoo birds can be both parasitic AND symbiotic. The chicks of cuckoos that have crow hosts evolved a defense mechanism that deters predators, so the adult crows accept and raise the cuckoo because it protects the nest and the other crow chicks. - source

In cannabis, trichomes function as a defense mechanism against various insects and animals because their bitter taste and strong aromas render cannabis flowers unpalatable, as well as non-living environmental variables such as potentially harmful UV rays.

Animals can't develop efficient defense mechanisms against humans due to fact that humans create tools to overcome their defenses. - source

Monarch butterfly caterpillars live off of Milkweed, which is toxic and should kill them. They store it in their bodies and while becoming a butterfly the toxic is transferred to their wings as a defense mechanism

Oysters create pearls as a defensive mechanism in which to seal off parasites and other irritants that become trapped in their shells.

The Bombardier Beetle has a defense mechanism in which it mixes benzene-1,4-diol and hydrogen peroxide to create a heat blast to dispel predators

Adults find babies cute as it is their only defense mechanism against adults and ensures that we take care of them and do not harm them

Opiliones, "Daddy Longlegs” (not spiders) have penises, unlike other arachnids. One defense mechanism for them is autotomy, or voluntary appendage amputation. Detached limbs may twitch up to an hour after removal due to a respiratory system which breathes through holes and tunnels in their legs.

Reaction Formation is an ego defense mechanism in which emotions and impulses which are anxiety-producing or perceived to be unacceptable are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency. For example, if you feel hate towards someone you will express love in order to conceal it.