I'd like to take credit (or at least partial credit) for the "exploding animals." I doubt I was the first person to discover this, but I haven't seen anyone else mucking about with suicide bombers lately.
First, make a stone with a rediculously low boiling point (I used this name for a touch of irony):
[MATGLOSS_STONE:HIDDEN_FUN_STONE]
[NAME:HIDDEN FUN STONE][COLOR:5:7:1][TILE:'H']
[ITEM_SYMBOL:'*']
[VALUE:1500]
[MELTING_POINT:0]
[BOILING_POINT:1]
[SOLID_DENSITY:1]
You can add environment tags if you wish; if you do, it has a secondary purpose of creating a challenging obstacle for your miners (bonus points if you don't tell anyone about it when you release your mod), but your caravans will occaisionally suddenly explode upon reaching your depot, which might not be "optimal."
Secondly, add this token (or something similar) to your exploding critter:
[ITEMCORPSE:STONE:NO_SUBTYPE:STONE:HIDDEN_FUN_STONE]
Kill the creature and it explodes in a cloud of freezing death. Very entertaining.
This is only the tip of the exploding stone iceberg. For instance, the original idea I had for this stone (aside from the miner's bane) was to put it in a smelter reaction (dwarven gas chamber, anyone?). The uses for such a stone are endless.
Actually, now that I think of it, there's probably less than five. Ten at the absolute max. It's still fun, though.
I've also been brainstorming a bit lately, and I think I may be on to something very interesting (and completely unrelated to the rest of this post). I doubt it'll work, but I'll post any results if it does.