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We Finally Know How Chameleons Change Their Color
Chameleons’ secret involves tiny crystals under their skin
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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
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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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A Green Sea Slug Steals Power From Algae
The discovery makes this a true plant-animal hybrid
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Spiders Spin Electrically Charged Silk To Make It Sticky
The garden center spider doesn’t put sticky glue on its web; it uses a complex spinning process to build prey-snaring silk threads
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The Secret to a Long Life: Be Cooperative and Live Underground
Naked mole rats enjoy exceptionally long, healthy lives, and there’s more than good genes at work
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New Deep-Sea Snails Are Nature’s Own Punk Rockers
The spikes on one hardcore species inspired scientists to name it after Joe Strummer of the Clash, who was also an ardent environmentalist
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This Exotic Frog Skips the Eggs, Gives Birth to Live Tadpoles
The species is one of just a handful of frogs that use internal fertilization, and the only one found that births tadpoles
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Threat of Being Eaten Doesn’t Deter Dumpling Squid From Sex
The adorable cephalopods seem to rate mating higher on their list of priorities than survival
:focal(397x270:398x271)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/7e/82/7e821434-75f2-45df-999c-16800e9603f1/assasin.jpg)
Meet the Stealthiest Assassin Bug in the United States
The unique and secretive species has been living among us unrecognized for a century
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This New Lizard Species Evolved in a Lab
The novel reptile shows that hybrids can indeed lead to viable species, but not by the normal reproductive route
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At 26,700 Feet, This Is the Deepest-Swimming Fish Known
Researchers found a new fish in the depths of the Mariana Trench
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By Absorbing Smells From Its Food, This Fish Gets Scent Camouflage
The harlequin filefish is a master of camoufalge
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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
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A Tapeworm Crawled Around In This Man’s Brain for Years
Studying the extracted parasite might help others avoid a similar infestation
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The camel cousin evolved fluff instead of fat because it was able to linger in an evolutionary slow lane, suggest newly sequenced genomes
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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
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How the Humble Hydra Lives, As Far as We Know, Forever
Hydra don’t seem to die of old age. But why?
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