Deep beneath the grassy plain, a small unassuming beetle wandered along, just above the dirt line. She was on the hunt for a meal to feed the growing eggs in her abdomen.
Her antennae sensed the air around her as she detected a carcass some distance away. As she headed toward the decaying carrion, she suddenly sensed several other small insects around her.
It was a colony of ants. The beetle could handle a couple of the smaller rival insects, but enough of the little ants around her and she would be dismantled and dismembered within minutes. The ants surrounding her began to close in for the attack.
The beetle had a trick up her sleeve however, for she was no ordinary beetle. She was a bombardier beetle.
She stood up high on her legs, arched the end tip of her abdomen toward the ants and sprayed a burning, noxious chemical at her enemies. The ants closest to the blast twitched and died. Some of the ones receiving only an incidental spray backed away in pain. The ants retreated, leaving the beetle alone. The bombardier proceeded toward her meal off in the distance.
The bombardier beetle is a beetle from the ground beetle family. They are found all across the world, on every continent that has grasslands and woodlands. Perhaps their widespread range means bombardiers are a more common Power Animal than most people realize!
It does not have bright flashy colors, choosing not to advertise its powers until the day they will be needed. Bombardiers are also not very big, typically being not much larger than a person’s fingernail. It can be inferred then, that if the beetle is your power animal, you hide your true, powerful nature with utmost confidence like a real-life Clark Kent.
When threatened, the beetle releases a chemical concoction of burning gasses to deter its predators. Bigger animals get burned from the chemicals, or taste the really bad concoction in their mouths and spit out the beetle unharmed. Meanwhile smaller predators, like ants and other insects, get killed outright. If your Power Animal is the bombardier beetle, perhaps you are a secret master of a martial art, or even own a concealed weapon license! Either way, evildoers beware, lest they get a nasty surprise from messing with you, just like the enemies of the bombardier beetle.
Have you ever felt like you’ve identified with a fire-breathing dragon as your Power Animal? The downside to that is that dragons are not real. Perhaps the bombardier beetle is the Power Animal for you instead. After all, the bombardier beetle is the inspiration for many fantastical creatures such as fire-breathing dinosaurs. Do not underestimate its humble nature!