In that spirit, I present a few overlooked creatures that might cause your heart to skip a beat…because of their bites, or their eating habits, or just their eerie calls in the night.

Now, a team of Harvard University researchers has come up with a new biomechanical model for the mantis shrimp's mighty appendage , and it built a tiny robot to mimic that movement, according to a recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

To its prey on the seafloor, the mantis shrimp is known as “death incarnate”—the crustacean cocks back its two hammer-like appendages under its face, releasing them with such force that they obliterate clam shells , one of the toughest materials in nature.

The mantis I’m watching uses one ear and two 3-D eyes to search my yard for food and mates.If those images don’t match in front of a mantis, it doesn’t care as long as there’s movement.

The disco clam is saved, and the mantis shrimp is not only out of a meal but is itself at risk of being eaten, by hanging out there like a punch-drunk prizefighter.