WATCH: Trap-Jaw Ants Use Their Chops to Backflip Out of Danger

When trap-jaw ants find themselves in trouble, they’ll literally flip out. Trap-jaw ants have specialized, spring-loaded jaws that snap shut at some of the fastest speeds ever recorded for animal movement. They deploy those powerful mandibles primarily to attack and throw enemies, but trap-jaws, scientists recently discovered, also use their chops defensively to fling themselves away from predators by executing a maneuver called the “jaw jump.” In Enemy Territory Wherever you find a tra