[Narrator] Hear that? (tink)

That's the sound of the mantis shrimp striking metal

with its fearsome, uh, face hammers, yeah, face hammers.

Weird, but then again, the mantis shrimp

isn't actually a shrimp.

(tink)

It's a stomatopod, and an ornery one at that.

They use those face hammers to blow prey,

like clams and crabs, to pieces.

They also use them to fight other mantis shrimp

for housing.

It's a lot like the techies in San Francisco,

only with more legs, I guess.

Researchers at Duke University recently set up

a little mantis fight club to understand

how these little pugilists scrap it out.

Mantis shrimp, like a lot of animals,

first do a lot of posturing.

In this case, waving their arms around.

But, in almost every contest, they end up throwing down.

To avoid injury, they strike each other

in a very specific spot, a tail plate, called a telson.

This acts as a punching bag to absorb the tremendous energy.

[Patrick] So we thought that the winners of the contest

would be the ones that struck with the greater force,

but we actually found that winners strike

a greater number of times.

The researchers think this communicates their aggression

and persistence to the loser, who mopes away.

So, the next time you're at an open house,

try punching your rivals in the tookus.

You'd make a mantis shrimp proud.

(smooth music)