Weird Animals

A wasp larva perches on its hapless spider host.

Parasitic Wasps Turn Spiders Into Zombie Weavers

Arachnids injected with a potent neurotoxin are forced to create shiny new web cradles for wasp larvae

Black chicken served with bamboo shoots and caterpillar fungus

Why This Chicken is Black From Comb to Feathers to Muscles

The Ayam Cemani is the Goth of the chicken world

A swarm of mayflies in Ontario

Officials Had to Use A Snowplow to Reclaim a Bridge in Iowa Swarmed by Mayflies

An unusually large emergence of aquatic insects created temporarily hazardous conditions

This Fungus Eats the Butts off Cicadas

It’s totally not a big deal, though

These Worms Hitchhike in the Belly of Slugs To Get Around

New study shows that worm their way into slug guts and feces to travel long distances

Unlike the tails of almost all other animals, seahorse tails are more like square prisms than cylinders.

Why Seahorses Have Square Tails

Engineers show that the animals' prism-like tails are mechanically superior to cylindrical ones

Researchers witnessed this coral slowly slurp up a sea slug back in December of 2014.

That Time a Mushroom Coral Ate a Sea Slug

Researchers observed the rare event off the coast of Thailand

Poop or a caterpillar? The giant swallowtail caterpillar is one of a few species that elude birds by pretending to be their poop.

Here Are The Animals That Are the Best at Pretending to Be Poop

Moth caterpillars change their posture to look like bird dung, and they’re not alone

A trap-jaw ant opens its massive mandibles.

Watch These Ants Hurl Themselves Out of Death Traps With Their Mouths

At least one trap-jaw ant species has coopted its exceptionally strong mandibles to escape its nemesis, the ferocious antlion

A blood-sucker creeping around on a potential victim's pristine white sheets.

How Our Modern Lives Became Infested With Bed Bugs

After being bitten by the tiny pests, author Brooke Borel set out to learn all she could about her blood-sucking foes

A 1911 illustration of a vampire squid

Poop Eating Vampire Squids Aren't Actually Squids at All

The strange-looking animals have a very different reproductive strategy than other cephalopods

Droves of Elegant Blue Jellies Wash Up on Pacific Shores

Unusually strong winds have pushed Velella velellas, or "by-the-wind sailors," onto West Coast beaches by the thousands

Who wouldn't love that face?

Lady Wolf Spiders Use Silk to Flirt

Counter to the common wisdom, it’s not just males that do the pursuing

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Meet a Hermit Crab Who Has Shacked Up in a Lego

Weird things can become home sweet home when you are a tiny soft crustacean

A moth visits a male cone on Ephedra foeminea and feeds on a pollination droplet.

"Wereplant" Releases Its Pollen By the Light of the Full Moon

An unassuming shrub from the Mediterranean is the first documented case of a plant timing its reproduction to the lunar cycle

A panther chameleon.

We Finally Know How Chameleons Change Their Color

Chameleons' secret involves tiny crystals under their skin

Geckos have amazingly-structured feet, but new research indicates that the lizards' skin also possesses exceptional properties.

Water Drops Leap Off Gecko Skin Thanks to Tiny Spines

Specialized hydrophobic structures on gecko skin encourage dewdrops to be swept away by the wind or to collide and shoot off one another like pool balls

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How Praying Mantises Can Jump Faster Than the Blink of an Eye

Stunning slow-mo videos capture juvenile mantises as they corkscrew through the air and precisely land their target

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Mark World Pangolin Day With a New Video About the Quirky Creatures

Awareness about this animal underdog is climbing, yet an estimated 10,000 pangolins still fell victim to the illegal wildlife trade last year

Physarum polycephalum in the wild, sans piano

A Scientist And a Slime Mold Are Set To Play a Duet

The blob-like creatures’ movements inspired a composer to create a way for slime mold to play the piano

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