Wild Things: Mongooses, Bladderworts and More…
Fairy-wrens, wasps, and a nearly 3,000 year old big toe
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Wild-Things-songbird-631.jpg)
Drum Beat
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Wild-Things-paper-wasp-1.jpg)
Learn more about paper wasps at the Encyclopedia of Life.
Shared Birthdays
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Wild-Things-banded-mongooses-2.jpg)
Learn more about the banded mongoose at the Encyclopedia of Life.
All Over In A Snap
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Wild-Things-aquatic-bladderworts-3.jpg)
Learn more about bladderworts at the Encyclopedia of Life.
You'll Be Safer With Me
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Wild-Things-songbird-4.jpg)
Learn more about splendid fairy wrens at the Encyclopedia of Life.
Observed
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Wild-Things-Tabaketenmut-hallux-big-toe-5.jpg)
Oldest? The Capua leg, which dates to 300 B.C., was known as the world's oldest prosthesis. Tabaketenmut, the daughter of a priest, lived at least 400 years earlier. But was the hallux functional?
Latest: Yes. Jacqueline Finch of the University of Manchester persuaded two right-big-toe amputees to walk around in sandals and a replica; it bore their weight and was comfortable. She says credit for the foundations of prosthetic science "should be firmly laid at the feet of the ancient Egyptians."