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Weird Animals

"Active sleep" only lasted 40 seconds but cycled after 30 to 40 minutes of "quiet sleep". These patterns are similar pattern to how mammals experience rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Like Humans and Mammals, Octopuses May Have Two Stages of Sleep

Scientists do not know if octopuses dream in color, but they do change color while sleeping

The head and the body of the sea slug Elysia marginata, a day after the animal decapitated itself.

New Research

Sea Slug’s Decapitated Head Crawls Around Before Regrowing a Body

Researchers think that lopping off its own noggin could help the critter rid itself of parasites

C. elegans are roundworms that are about one millimeter long and commonly used in scientific experiments as model organisms.

New Research

These Worms Have No Eyes, but They Avoid the Color Blue

When a scientist noticed that blind nematodes avoid bacteria that make blue toxin, he wondered if they took color into account

Photos of the kitefin shark glowing in the dark.

New Research

Nearly Six-Foot-Long Glowing Shark Discovered in Deep Sea Off New Zealand

The kitefin shark is one of three species of glowing sharks described in a new paper

A male superb lyrebird

New Research

This Bird Mimics an Entire Flock to Woo Females

When mating, male lyrebirds reproduce a cacophony of calls usually reserved for when predator is nearby

An Ananteris balzani scorpion couple interlocked in their elaborate mating dance. The male (left) has lost the end of his tail, rendering him unable to defecate.

For Constipated Scorpions, Females Suffer Reproductively. Males, Not So Much.

After the arachnids drop their tails, poop backs up until it kills them, but before that it can affect pregnancy

New research finds that springhares, hopping rodents native to southern Africa, glow under UV light.

New Research

This Bouncing African Mammal Glows Under UV Light

Springhares are the latest in a flurry of furry creatures that scientists have discovered are biofluorescent

The yellow colored king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus was spotted after photographer Yves Adams suddenly saw penguins swimming towards the shore.

Rare Yellow Penguin Photographed for the First Time

The Antarctic bird has leucism, meaning its feathers do not contain melanin needed to produce black pigment

Elizabeth Ann, the first cloned black-footed ferret and the first cloned endangered species native to North America, pictured here at 50 days old.

Elizabeth Ann Is the First Cloned Black-Footed Ferret

The creature, the first cloned endangered species native to North America, could provide the fragile population with desperately needed genetic diversity

Two wood-feeding cockroaches (Salganea taiwanensis). The one on the left is missing it's wings after the mutual wing-eating behavior. The one on the right has it's wings intact.

These Cockroaches Mate for Life. Their Secret? Mutual Sexual Cannibalism

Both males and females will munch on each other’s wings after sex, a behavior that may encourage lifelong partnership

The broad-tailed hummingbird uses its fiery throat feathers, called a gorget, to attract a mate.

Smithsonian Voices

From Aerial Acrobatics to Sexual Deception, See Eight of Nature’s Wildest Mating Rituals

Some species have developed unusual rituals to show off their prowess as a potential mate

Sea whip coral can come in a variety of colors, from vivid reds and oranges, yellows to rich violets and can grow up to three feet long.

Tangled ‘Cord’ Mistaken for Litter Is Actually a Sea Creature

Along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, beachgoers mistake sea whip coral for discarded junk

Scientists suspect that the wombat evolved this unique trait to mark its territory on rocks and logs with poop that won’t easily roll off

Wombats Poop Cubes, and Scientists Finally Got to the Bottom of It

The marsupial’s unique digestive tract forms square dung

The black sea cucumber Holothuria atra is found in shallow waters along reefs and uses sand to coat itself for camouflage and protection from the sun.

Sea Cucumber Poop Could Revitalize Coral Reefs

In one reef, three million sea cucumbers released 64,000 metric tons of nutrient-packed poo back into the ecosystem

Tangle-web spiders can catch prey up to 50 times their size thanks to their pulley system-like hunting strategy.

New Research

Small Spiders With Big Appetites Use a Pulley System to Catch Large Prey

New research and videos show how spiders in the Theridiidae family hoist up prey 50 times their size

Researchers were first intrigued by the social structure of the mole rats in the 1970s because, like bees and termites, naked mole rats have a single-breeding queen and have non-breeding worker rats

Naked Mole Rats Speak in Dialects Unique to Their Colonies

The accent is influenced by each group’s queen but can vary if the monarch is overthrown

The male of a newly discovered species named Brookesia nana may be the smallest adult reptile ever found.

New Research

Chameleon Discovered in Madagascar May Be World’s Smallest Reptile

The male of the newly described species measured just half an inch long from his nose to the base of his tail

The Tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, is a unique reptile found in New Zealand. New research suggests the species has two mitochondrial genomes.

Smithsonian Voices

Scientists Discover This Peculiar New Zealand Reptile Has Two ‘Powerhouse’ Genomes

The research could help zoologists understand what makes tuataras so genetically different from all other reptiles.

Reptile keepers are warming up to a new monitor lizard this winter, a young Komodo dragon named Onyx.

Smithsonian Voices

How to Care for Komodo Dragons, the World’s Largest Lizards

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is warming up to a new monitor lizard this winter, a young Komodo dragon named Onyx

An Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) at the Haus des Meeres in Vienna, Austria.

New Research

Australian Lungfish Has Biggest Genome Ever Sequenced

The air-breathing fish dethrones the Mexican axolotl for the title of largest known genome in the animal kingdom

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