Weird Animals

By Absorbing Smells From Its Food, This Fish Gets Scent Camouflage

The harlequin filefish is a master of camoufalge

The Black Sea Devil, a Rare Deep-Sea Anglerfish, Filmed for the First Time

Fewer than half a dozen anglerfish have ever been recorded swimming in their undersea habitat

The worm's progression through the man's brain, over a four year period.

A Tapeworm Crawled Around In This Man's Brain for Years

Studying the extracted parasite might help others avoid a similar infestation

A pair of fuzzy alpaca.

Why the Alpaca Has No Humps

The camel cousin evolved fluff instead of fat because it was able to linger in an evolutionary slow lane, suggest newly sequenced genomes

An Australian banded stilt in Victoria.

These Extreme Desert Nomads Set Records for Migrating Birds

Australian banded stilts use mysterious cues to know when to head toward ephemeral lakes in the country’s otherwise dry interior

How the Humble Hydra Lives, As Far as We Know, Forever

Hydra don't seem to die of old age. But why?

Crabby Tenants Defend Corals From Marauding Predators

A diversity of coral guard-crabs is needed to fend off attacks by hungry snails and giant spiky sea stars

A different Wyandotte chicken, this one still with head firmly attached.

Mike the Chicken Lived for 18 Months Without a Head

In 1945, a decapitation gone awry gave birth to Miracle Mike

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Thousands of Strange Green Balls Appeared Overnight on a Beach in Australia

Scientists believe that the balls are actually extremely rare algae congregations called marimo

A genet riding a rhino.

A Fuzzy Little Genet Is Hitching Rides on Rhinos and Buffalo, And No One Can Figure Out Why

Camera traps exposed the secret world of a rhino-riding genet

The "skylight" appears as a light pink splotch atop this leatherback sea turtle's head.

Leatherback Sea Turtles Can Measure Sunlight Through Their Skulls

The anatomical skylight allows the turtles to synch up with the seasons

Introducing Dendrogramma, a deep sea creature that resembles a mushroom but has more affinity to a jellyfish.

Deep-Sea Mushroom Creatures Found Off Australia

Neither fungi nor fish, these oddball organisms collected in 1986 may represent an early branch on the tree of life

RIP Sexy Space Geckos

The five geckos sent to space have all died

Geckos Can Control the Movement of Their Toe Hairs

Geckos take advantage of van der Waals forces to run across ceilings, but a simple shift allows them to drop to the ground

David Graham, rear, with John Tee-Van, front, with one of the young pandas.

How an American Missionary Helped Capture the First Panda Given to the U.S.

"Missionaries sometimes have to tackle strange and unusual jobs," David Graham wrote.

An artist's interpretation of what Hallucigenia sparsa looked like.

This Weird, 500 Million-Year-Old Spiky Worm With Legs Actually Has a Descendant

Modern-day velvet worms' jaws are repurposed former claws

How to Charm Worms Out of the Ground

The art of worm grunting

Crawfish Can Convert Blood Cells into Neurons

This neat invertebrate trick could help researchers eventually figure out how to do the same for human cells

A similar species of Irukandji jellyfish, but with the tentacles (and a fishy lunch inside).

A New, Potentially Deadly Species of Jellyfish Was Discovered Floating Around Australia

The new species' sting can cause Irukandji syndrome, which sometimes leads to stroke and heart failure

A European eel (not the world's oldest, however).

RIP, World’s Oldest Eel

The eel, 155, passed away in a Swedish well late last week

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