The Asian golden cat, also known as the Asiatic golden cat or Temminck's cat, is a feline endemic to some of Asia's densest forests. It comes in a wide palette of colors, plucks birds before eating them and — despite weighing no more than 35 pounds (16 kilograms), or two to three times as much as a domestic cat — is bold enough to kill prey such as buffalo calves, small muntjacs and baby deer.

Asian golden cats are elusive creatures rarely seen in the wild. Camera trap images indicate that the most common coat colors for the species are golden-brown and reddish-brown, but gray, melanistic, pale cinnamon and patterned, ocelot-like forms also exist, explaining why the species is sometimes described as a "feline of many costumes." According to the International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC), there is no known link between coat color and the geographic distribution of Asian golden cats.

Although it prefers to hunt on the ground, the Asian golden cat can also climb trees. It kills larger prey with a strong bite to the neck, prowling sub-tropical and tropical forests at various times of day. While researchers long thought that Asian golden cats are nocturnal, more recent evidence suggests these cats have irregular activity patterns that may peak at twilight.

The species can live up to 20 years and at altitudes ranging from sea level to 14,050 feet (4,282 meters), according to a 2016 biodiversity survey in Bhutan. This survey and others showing Asian golden cats living at very high elevations suggest highlands may be important habitat for the species.

Asian golden cats have also been spotted in open areas with rocky tracts, and they are even known as "rock cats" in parts of China, according to the ISEC. Their ranges are about 20% larger than those of the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), despite the two species exhibiting similar behaviors and overlapping in their distribution.

But as a result of their preference for forest habitats, Asian golden cats are especially vulnerable to deforestation, which has caused a huge loss of habitat for the species. Southeast Asian forests have some of the highest deforestation rates in the world due to the expansion of crops like oil palm, coffee and rubber, according to the ISEC.

Asian golden cats are also threatened by illegal hunting for their pelts and bones, which are used in traditional medicine, and for their meat, which is considered a delicacy in some regions, according to the ISEC. Where Asian golden cats come into contact with livestock such as sheep and goats, the predators sometimes kill farmers' animals, leading to retribution killings, the society says.

Deep-sea creatures are uniquely adapted to living in extreme environments, and the worm Paralvinella hessleri is no exception. In fact, it survives high levels of toxic chemicals like arsenic by creating its own poison.

P. hessleri is a member of the family Alvinellidae, a group of small tube worms adapted to some of the most extreme environments on Earth.

Found only at the hottest hydrothermal vents in the western Pacific, including the Okinawa Trough and Mariana Back-Arc Basin, these worms grow up to about 0.8 inches (22 millimeters) in length and live in protective tubes attached to vent chimneys. Remarkably, P. hessleri is the only known animal able to colonize and thrive in the acidic, metal-rich zones of these vents, where temperatures can reach around 608 degrees Fahrenheit (320 degrees Celsius).

These worms have an unusual survival trick that lets them withstand the high levels of toxic arsenic and sulfide found at hydrothermal vents. In humans, arsenic exposure is linked to serious health problems, including cancer and neurological disorders. P. hessleri, however, turns this danger into a defense: it stores arsenic in its skin cells, where the toxin reacts with sulfide from vent fluids to form orpiment — a less harmful, though still poisonous, mineral.

This bright yellow-orange substance, once known as "King’s Yellow," was historically used by artists as a pigment until its toxicity became clear. P. hessleri, which has a yellow-orange tint due to the orpiment crystals, can accumulate so much arsenic that it makes up nearly 1% of the worm's body weight.

In a 2025 paper published in the journal PLOS Biology, the researchers who discovered the worms' survival strategy described the process as "fighting poison with poison."

Commenting on the discovery, study co-author Hao Wang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oceanology, said he was "stunned" when he first saw the worms with a remotely operated vehicle.

"The bright yellow Paralvinella hessleri worms were unlike anything I had ever seen, standing out vividly against the white biofilm and dark hydrothermal vent landscape," he said in a statement. "It was hard to believe that any animal could survive, let alone thrive, in such an extreme and toxic environment."

Pallas's cat, also known as a manul, is a feline from Central Asia that yelps like a small dog and has such short legs that it sometimes struggles to run after prey. Researchers think it is one of the oldest living cat species in the world, having diverged 5.2 million years ago from a leopard ancestor.

Although it looks stocky, Pallas's cat isn't actually much bigger than a domestic cat beneath its long, dense fur. This thick coat provides insulation against its environment, the freezing cold of Central Asia's steppe and high-altitude grassland ecosystems. The species is rarely seen because it is solitary and very secretive, spending the daytime in rock crevices and marmot burrows.

Pallas's cat comes out at dusk to hunt and stays out until dawn. It is an ambush predator, meaning it waits at the exits of rodent burrows until its prey appears — although some cats also stick their paws in to scoop out a meal, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute.

Even if Pallas's cat is active during the day, the feline is hard to spot. Its coat is usually gray or light tan, but it can change color with the seasons to better blend into the local landscape, according to the National Zoo. Most of the hairs also have white tips, giving the cat a mottled or frosted appearance that is difficult to distinguish from rocks and shrubs in its natural surroundings.

For even more camouflage, Pallas's cat has rounded ears set so low on its head that it can peer over rocks without its ears peeking out. The only part of its body that protrudes is its bushy tail, which is about half as long as the head and body combined, according to the Felidae Conservation Fund.

Unlike other small cats, which have slit-like pupils, Pallas's cat has rounded pupils that are good for judging distances. The cat also yelps when it is scared or excited, which makes it sound more like a small dog than a feline, according to the National Zoo — but the species purrs and growls like any other small cat.

In the wild, Pallas's cat typically lives eight to nine years, according to the National Zoo. The cat uses scent to mark its territory, which is unusually large for such a small feline, with a range typically covering 3.5 to 7 square miles (9 to 18 square kilometers).

Pallas's cats are known to keep their paws warm by standing on their own tail, according to Edinburgh Zoo, but it's unclear whether a cold climate explains the feline’s grumpy appearance.

If you happened upon this bizarre creature in the ocean, you could be forgiven for thinking someone had flung a chicken carcass into the sea and it was bobbing along on the current — hence its nickname, "the headless chicken monster."

But this strange creature is actually a sea cucumber that lives deep beneath the surface, generally below 1,600 feet (500 meters) and down to the seafloor.

It is a deep burgundy color, has webbed structures on its body for swimming and grows to a length of up to 9.8 inches (25 centimeters) — roughly the same size as a small roast chicken.

Scientists know very little about this mysterious deep-sea cucumber because it is very fragile and easily damaged when researchers try to collect samples.

It has been observed crawling along the seafloor using appendages called "tube feet" to scoop up sediment and stuff it into its mouth. According to a video from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, headless chicken monsters are trying to extract organic material from the sediment.

Related: Watch 'spaghetti monster' with dozens of pink-tipped sausage legs swimming near Nazca Ridge

Like ploughing a field, working the seafloor helps keep the habitat healthy by clearing out and aerating the sediment, according to an NOAA post by Christopher Mah, a zoologist specializing in invertebrates at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

This is a gruelling way to get nutrients. "You really have to pass a lot of sediment through your gut to get any nutrition out of this sediment," an NOAA representative said in the video.

The sea cucumber can also swim by holding itself upright and flapping fin-like structures that fringe the top and bottom of its body. "Although it typically spends its days gobbling up detritus among sediment grains on the seabed, the unique behavior to swim through the water column helps it avoid predators, locate to new feeding areas, and delight science teams," a representative from Nautilus Live wrote in the text accompanying a YouTube video of the creature.

This gelatinous animal is neutrally buoyant but has a cheeky strategy to give itself an extra lift. When it needs to take off into the water column, it sometimes lightens the load by pooping as it swims away.

Native to Madagascar, this lemur looks like a strange mix of several animals. It has the round eyes of an owl, the ears of a bat, rodent-like teeth that never stop growing and a wiry, bushy tail longer than its body.

Aye-ayes are the world’s largest nocturnal lemur, weighing around 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) and reaching up to 24 inches (60 centimeters) long from nose to tail tip. Young aye-ayes have a silver front with a stripe down their backs, but as they develop into adults, their thick fur turns a yellow-brown with white tips. During the day, they sleep in spherical nests crafted from leaves and branches, while at night they roam the treetops in search of food.

Aye-ayes have extra-long, bony middle fingers. As the animals move along tree branches at night, they tap the wood rapidly with their long fingers, listening for subtle changes in the echoes that signal the presence of hollow chambers where wood-boring insect larvae hide. Once a grub is located, the aye-aye gnaws a small hole into the bark using its teeth, then inserts its thin finger to fish the meal out. These long middle fingers have ball-and-socket joints, giving the lemurs a wide range of motion to better reach their prey.

However, biologists also found that the lemurs use these elongated fingers for another task: nose-picking. In a 2022 paper published in the Journal of Zoology, researchers described how aye-ayes reach through their noses to the back of the throat, then lick off the gathered mucus. The team noted that the lemurs may be attracted to the "texture, crunchiness and saltiness" of the mucus — which may also prevent bacteria from sticking to their teeth.

Like rodents, aye-ayes have continuously growing incisors. Their upper and lower front teeth never stop growing, but they are worn down by the wood, bark and nuts that they gnaw through.

In Malagasy folklore, aye-ayes are considered omens of death, and some believe that if an aye-aye points its finger at you, it's a death sentence, according to the Natural History Museum in London. Because of these superstitions, aye-ayes are sometimes killed on sight, contributing to their declining population. Once listed as extinct, they were rediscovered in the wild in the 1950s, but they are still endangered.

To defend themselves against predators, aye-ayes rely mostly on stealth and camouflage. Their dark fur helps them blend into the nighttime shadows of the rainforest. Their large, sensitive ears enable them to detect the slightest rustle of leaves — a crucial ability for avoiding predators like fossas (Cryptoprocta ferox), carnivorous mammals endemic to Madagascar.

When threatened, aye-ayes may freeze in place, relying on stillness and silence to avoid detection. They are also very agile and are able to leap and climb rapidly through dense forest canopies to escape danger.

With their beady eyes, big ears, hairless tails and short, stocky legs, opossums are distinctive marsupials. Despite their odd appearance, these animals have a rich evolutionary history and have remained largely unchanged for millions of years. Their remarkable ability to adapt to different environments, food sources and predators has helped them survive from the time of the dinosaurs to today.

The Virginia opossum is the only opossum species found in the United States and Canada. Opossums have the smallest brain-to-weight ratio of any North American mammal.

The earliest known relatives of modern opossums lived over 65 million years ago, around the time dinosaurs went extinct. A 2009 study published in PLOS ONE found that peradectids, a family of marsupials known from fossils mostly in North America and Eurasia, are the closest extinct relatives of living opossums. Like modern opossums, peradectids had opposable thumbs on their hind feet and a similarly shaped skull — features that have remained nearly unchanged for millions of years. The earliest opossum fossils date back to the early Miocene epoch, roughly 20 million years ago.

One key reason why opossums have survived for so long with few changes is because they are adaptable. These marsupials eat almost anything, including fruit, insects, small animals and animal carcasses. They can live anywhere from forests to urban backyards. And, although they are mostly nocturnal, they can sometimes be seen in daylight if food is scarce.

Opossums are also resistant to snake venom, particularly that of rattlesnakes and other pit vipers. This resistance is due to a protein called Lethal Toxin Neutralising Factor found in their blood, which can neutralize various toxins in snake venom. This enables opossums to prey on venomous snakes that would otherwise be a threat.

Opossums give birth to underdeveloped young, which crawl into a pouch and nurse for around eight weeks as they grow. Young opossums then ride on their mother's back for several weeks until they become independent at 12 weeks old.

When threatened, opossums may growl, hiss, bare their teeth or climb a nearby tree to escape. If escape isn't possible, they resort to "playing dead" — a defense mechanism known as thanatosis.

This reaction isn't a conscious decision but a physiological response to extreme stress. It causes the opossum to become completely immobile and appear lifeless. This behavior is often accompanied by a significant drop in heart and respiratory rates, a decrease in body temperature and the release of a foul-smelling fluid from the anal glands. Together, these cues signal to predators that the opossum is already dead, often causing them to lose interest and move on. So involuntarily "playing possum" enables the animals to survive the encounter.

Why it's awesome: Colugos are commonly called "flying lemurs," but the name is misleading. These nocturnal mammals look somewhat like lemurs, with small, furry faces that are dominated by a pair of enormous forward-facing eyes. However, colugos aren't lemurs, which are part of the Primates order. Rather, colugos are the sole members of the order Dermoptera, and are the closest living relatives of modern primates.

Colugos also don't fly, exactly. Unlike bats — the only mammals capable of powered flight — colugos do not have wings. Instead, they have a furry membrane called a patagium that is only suitable for gliding.

This thin sail is made of skin stretching from the animal's neck to its fingers, and from its fingers to its toes and tail. When fully extended, their "wingspan" is about 28 inches (70 centimeters) wide, and the animal resembles a living kite. Their feet are webbed, with curved claws for gripping tree bark.

Colugos are entirely arboreal, spending all their time in the treetops, where they launch into a glide by leaping from branches. They sail over distances greater than 328 feet (100 meters) while losing very little altitude, gliding at speeds of about 22 miles per hour (35 kilometers per hour). A female colugo with young will glide with her offspring clinging to her belly.

Sunda flying lemurs are slightly larger than the only other species of flying lemur: Cynocephalus volans, found in the southern parts of the Philippines.

The body of the Sunda species measures up to 16.5 inches (42 centimeters) long; their tails are up to 10.6 inches (27 cm) long, and they weigh up to 4.5 pounds (0.9 to 2 kilograms). Their dense fur can be black, grey, red or white, with dark, mottled patterns on their backs that resemble the lichen on rainforest trees. This camouflage hides colugos from predators.

The bottom incisors of colugos are also unique — they are comb-shaped with up to 20 prongs per tooth, and they help with grooming and removing parasites from colugos' fur. Colugos may also use these unusual teeth to strain fluids from fruit, or to scrape up sap from plants.

The first thing that you'll notice about kākāpō — a type of large, flightless parrot found only in New Zealand — is how rotund they are.

They have endearingly round heads and bodies, owl-like faces and sturdy legs, and they are the biggest of all modern parrots; males measure up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) long and can weigh nearly 9 pounds (4 kilograms). Kākāpō are also one of the longest-lived birds in the world, estimated to reach 90 years.

The name "kākāpō" means "night parrot" in the Māori language, a reference to the birds' nocturnal habits. Though kākāpō cannot fly, they can walk for long distances and are agile climbers, clambering and leaping from trees using their shortened wings for balance.

When they sense danger, kākāpō freeze in place, and their mottled emerald-green plumage renders the birds nearly invisible against the leafy forest backdrop. The feathers of the male kākāpō have a distinctive odor that scientists have described as "sweet and vegetative," and this powerful scent may play a role in males' mating success.

Mating in kākāpō is also unique, as they are the only parrot species to exhibit a behavior called lekking. Males create a stage of sorts, shaping a shallow bowl-shaped depression in the ground. They then crouch in their bowl and call for females using two different sounds: a series of low-frequency "booms" that sound like a tuba, punctuated by a high-pitched "ching." Males may boom and ching for eight hours at a stretch, continuing nightly for two or three months.

However, in the absence of female attention some males have been known to direct their affections elsewhere. In 1990, author Douglas Adams wrote about an unusual encounter with an amorous kākāpō, describing it in his book "Last Chance to See" (Penguin Random House, 1992). The incident took place while Adams was recording a segment for a BBC radio programme about endangered species.

"When one of the rangers who was working in an area where kākāpōs were booming happened to leave his hat on the ground," Adams wrote, "he came back later to find a kākāpō attempting to ravish it."

Scientists who work with kākāpōs even built a rubber "ejaculation helmet" to accommodate a kākāpō named Sirocco, who was notorious for trying to mate with people's heads. The helmet had a dimpled surface, suitable for collecting sperm for use in artificial insemination.

The birds breed once every two to four years, when local rimu trees produce an abundant crop of berries. These fruits are rich in calcium and vitamin D, essential nutrients for egg laying and for nourishing growing chicks.

Kākāpō thrived for tens of millions of years across New Zealand, where they had no natural predators. But with the arrival of Polynesian people around 700 years ago, the birds' numbers began to drop. Their decline accelerated when Europeans colonized New Zealand in the early 1800s. Deforestation and the introduction of mammalian predators, such as rats, cats and stoats, brought kākāpō to the brink of extinction, and by the 1900s, they had all but vanished.

But in the 1970s, conservationists discovered a breeding population of about 200 birds. For decades they worked to protect kākāpō and secure their future, moving them to the three islands where they live today (and where all invasive carnivores have since been eradicated). Currently there are about 242 kākāpō in the wild, and they are recognized as critically endangered with a high risk of extinction.

Japanese quail are small relatives of chickens and turkeys with one very unusual trait — males produce a unique seminal foam that resembles meringue.

The foam is unusual among birds but turkeys produce a similar substance.

Japanese quails were bred in captivity as early as the 11th century and were initially kept for their melodic songs. But they were later exploited for their meat and eggs.

The tiny birds, which weigh between 3.5 and 10.5 ounces (100 and 300 grams), reach sexual maturity by around 6 weeks and females are prolific egg layers, producing between 250 and 300 per year. Because of this, they're also very popular for scientific research. And in 1990, they became the first birds to be incubated and hatched in space.

Scientists first noticed Japanese quails had unusual foamy semen in the 1950s, and it has been the subject of research ever since. Their unique seminal foam is produced during mating by the proctodeal gland in the cloaca — the cavity containing both the excretory and reproductive organs — and is thought to enhance the chances of successful fertilization of a female's egg.

The foam joins seminal fluid and the sperm itself upon ejaculation. Its bubbly consistency is created by contractions of the muscles in the cloaca that amplify the effects of gases released by microorganisms in the cavity.

The foam is believed to help sperm cells mature after they enter the female reproductive tract, where they are stored for 8 to 11 days before fertilization occurs. It may also enhance the motility of the sperm and protect it from bacteria.

After a successful insemination, males do a little strut.

Dwarf sperm whales have an unusual way to protect themselves if they come under attack. When they feel threatened, these tiny whales release their intestinal fluid, turning the water red.

Growing up to 8 feet 10 inches (2.7 meters) long, they are the smallest species of whale. They are even smaller than some dolphins, such as Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) which can reach 13 feet (4 meters) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), which grow to around 12 feet (3.8 meters). These animals look so similar to pygmy sperm whales (Kogia breviceps) that it's challenging to tell the two apart. They were even believed to be the same species until 1966.

At the surface, they don't usually approach boats, which makes them very hard to study. The life of these toothed whales is typically unhurried. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, they tend to travel at a steady pace, and drift gently back under the water when they’re ready to go back to deeper waters.

They only dive suddenly when they're startled. If this happens, they also release their intestinal fluid, potentially in defense or as a reaction to feeling nervous — like a squid releasing ink.

Related: Sperm whales drop giant poop bombs to save themselves from orca attack

No other whales, except pygmy sperm whales, use this tactic to escape from danger.

"Each dwarf sperm whale has a sac filled with dark liquid in its intestine," representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries wrote. "The whale can release more than three gallons [11 liters] of dark, reddish-brown liquid — or ink — from this sac."

This cloud darkens the water, making it harder for the predator to see, which helps the tiny whale to make its getaway.

Their predators include large sharks and orcas (orcinus orca), and these pint-size whales are also threatened by entanglement, vessel strikes, and pollution.

Dwarf sperm whales can live to around 22 years old. Although little is known about their social behaviors, they are usually seen in small pods of no more than 16 whales.

They prefer deep waters and can dive to over 1,000 feet (300 meters) to find food. They eat a variety of deep-sea squid, octopus, crabs, and fish — using echolocation to track down their prey. They are often found near continental shelves where they have access to lots of their food sources.

With their thick black fur, stocky bodies and long whiskers, binturongs look like a hybrid between a bear and a cat, earning them the nickname "bearcat." But these mammals aren't just notable for their unusual appearance — they also smell like buttered popcorn.

Native to the dense tropical rainforests of South and Southeast Asia, binturongs can grow to between 2 and 3 feet (60 to 90 centimeters) long and weigh 24 to 79 pounds (11 to 36 kilograms). They are members of the civet family — mostly nocturnal mammals native to tropical Asia and Africa. Binturongs spend most of their time high in the treetops, where they move slowly through the branches at night.

One of the binturongs' most unusual traits is their smell. These creatures smell like hot buttered popcorn because they release a chemical compound called 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline — the same compound produced during the cooking of popcorn or freshly baked bread. The scent is secreted through glands located beneath their tails, and they use it to mark branches and leaves as they move.

This popcorn perfume plays a vital role in communication, helping binturongs mark their territory and signal their presence to others, especially in the dense, dimly lit canopies where they live. According to a 2016 study, the aroma is more concentrated in males. This may be because having more of the chemical helps males advertise their presence and hormonal status to females, which may be important in mate selection.

Despite their stocky appearance, binturongs are agile climbers. They have long, muscular tails that act like a fifth limb, helping them grip branches and support their weight. Binturongs are one of only two carnivorous mammals with a fully prehensile tail , which is likely an evolutionary adaptation because they live among the treetops.

Binturongs are largely solitary, preferring to sleep curled up on branches during the day. At night, they emerge to forage. Their eyes are adapted for low light so they have poor vision in daylight. However, their strong sense of smell compensates for this. Binturongs are also vocal animals, often snorting, chuckling or purring when they're content, and expressing annoyance or fear through screams, hisses or howls.

Name: Southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)

Where it lives: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and northeastern Australia

What it eats: Fruit, seeds, fungi, insects, snails, fish, frogs, small birds, small mammals and carrion

Why it's awesome: The southern cassowary is one of the most prehistoric-looking birds on Earth. They are often likened to a modern-day dinosaur due to their massive size, vivid colouration and powerful, raptor-like feet, earning them the title of the "world’s most dangerous birds."

Native to tropical rainforests, the southern cassowary is the heaviest flightless bird in Australia and the second-heaviest in the world, after the common ostrich (Struthio camelus). These birds can grow up to 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) tall and belong to the ratite group, which includes ostriches, emus and kiwis, according to the San Diego Zoo Fossil evidence and genetic studies suggest that cassowaries have existed in some form for tens of millions of years.

One of the cassowary's most prehistoric-looking features is its feet. Each foot has three toes, with the inner toe bearing a dagger-like claw that can grow up to 5 inches (12 centimeters) long. These claws aren't just for show; they're capable of delivering powerful, slashing kicks that can injure or even kill potential threats, including humans. Their legs are extremely muscular and adapted for quick, forceful movements, which helps them lash out at predators, such as crocodiles and pythons.

Cassowaries also have a striking and unusual appearance. Their heads and necks are bare and vividly colored in shades of blue and red, but their bodies are covered in coarse, black feathers that look more like hair than typical bird plumage. This coat provides protection from sharp thorns and branches as they move through dense vegetation.

The giant birds also have brightly-coloured pouches of flesh, called wattles, that dangle down from their necks. These are thought to help cassowaries relay social cues to others: For example, if they shake their heads and clap their wattles it may be a sign of territorial aggression.

They also have large, helmet-like structures called 'casques' on top of their heads. The exact function of the casque is still debated among biologists, but research suggests these structures act as "thermal windows," or radiators, allowing the bird to release excess heat in hot weather and conserve it in cooler conditions. It may also amplify and direct the birds' low-frequency calls, helping them communicate over long distances.

Unlike many animal species, male cassowaries are the primary caregivers for their offspring. They sit on their eggs for about 50 days and once the eggs have hatched, they tend to their chicks for around nine months.

Despite their fearsome nickname, cassowaries are generally shy and elusive and prefer to avoid confrontation and people when possible. However, attacks can occasionally happen if cassowaries are approached by humans.

In 2019, a man in Florida was killed by a cassowary that he was keeping as a pet. This was the first reported fatality in almost 100 years.

Pacific spiny lumpsuckers' tiny, plump bodies and adorable appearance make them essentially wild kawaii. They are awkward swimmers, so to avoid being swept off by currents in their coastal homes, their pelvic fin has evolved to act as a suction cup, enabling them to anchor themselves to a stable surface.

At just 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters) long, they are the smallest of the 27 species of lumpsuckers, also called lumpfish, some of which can grow as long as two feet (61 cm). Lumpfish are in the same order, Scorpaeniformes, as blobfish, sea robins and stonefish.

Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are small, globular fish with extra-small fins which they flap wildly to get around. It makes them able-but-awkward swimmers. Living close to the coast and facing the pulls of tides and strong currents, their pelvic fins are fused to form a surprisingly strong sucker disc which lets them attach to rocks, coral or kelp, and, in aquariums, even to the side of a tank.

These sucker discs are a bit fearsome to look at from the underside – like a lamprey with a circle of human teeth. That's because, like our teeth, those of the Pacific spiny lumpsucker are made from enamel. The disc also emits a green and yellow glow — though the reasons for this are not known.

Males are usually red (see “concerned strawberries”) and glow red under ultraviolet light, while females are usually green to brown and don't glow under UV rays.

When it's time to reproduce, only the males settle down. They stake out a territory, usually a shallow depression in warmer water where the females lay their eggs. The male fertilizes them and then she leaves and he tends to and guards the next generation from predators.Young lumpsuckers don't yet have a defense the adults have — rows of enamel bumps called odontodes covering their bodies, including that toothy-looking circle on their undersides.

Eventually, they will grow odontodes in spiral rows all around their bodies to protect them against predators and collisions with rough surfaces.

With its large, forward-facing eyes and head tufts that look like ears, the great eared nightjar resembles a dragon more than a bird. Often nicknamed the "baby dragon," this otherworldly-looking creature has several distinctive traits, including an eerie, haunting call.

Great eared nightjars, which reach between 12 and 16 inches (30 to 40 centimeters) in length, live in dense, low-lying woodlands across South and Southeast Asia. These elusive, nocturnal birds are masters of camouflage and blend into the forest floor, thanks to their mottled brown, gray and black plumage. By day, they remain motionless among leaf litter or tree stumps, with their coloring protecting them from predators.

Rather than building a traditional nest, the great eared nightjar lays a single egg directly on the forest floor or in a shallow bed of leaves. While the exact reason they avoid nesting in trees like many other birds remains uncertain, it's likely that their natural camouflage offers effective protection for both egg and chick against predators.

Their habitat is often dense with vegetation and trees, making it difficult for predators to find the birds and their eggs. Both parents incubate the egg until it hatches. Once the chick has emerged, it remains camouflaged on the forest floor where it is fed by its parents until it can fend for itself.

Despite their dragon-like appearance, great eared nightjars feed primarily on moths and other flying insects, which they catch mid-air in the twilight hours using their wide, gaping mouths. Their flight is silent and smooth, allowing them to hunt quickly and efficiently without alerting predators, such as owls and other birds of prey.

The call of the great eared nightjar is a deep, haunting sound that echoes through the forest at dusk and dawn. This distinctive call includes a sharp "tsiik" noise followed by a pause and a longer, whistle-like call. Nightjars rely on these vocalizations to breed. Males often use their calls to mark their territories, attract mates or warn others of dangers.

As it drifts through the inky blackness of the "midnight zone" in the deep sea, the pelican eel undulates its narrow, whiplike tail and long, snakelike body. It's hard to imagine its slender form consuming large prey — that is, until the eel unfolds its jaw like an umbrella and yawns its cavernous sac of a mouth.

Like its pelican namesake, this eel has an elastic pouch under its lower jaw that balloons open as its jaw gapes wide, engulfing anything unlucky enough to be swimming close to the eel's head. And with an expandable throat and stomach, a pelican eel can scoop up animals larger than its own body, swallowing prey whole while filtering the mouthful of water through its teeth and gills.

The pelican eel, also known as a gulper eel, measures about 3.3 feet (1 m) long and has deep black skin that absorbs nearly all light, making it practically invisible in the dark depths of the ocean.

The hinged lower jaw of a gulper eel is about one-quarter as long as its entire body. While its mouth is enormous, it has tiny eyes and very small teeth. It also lacks scales and a swim bladder, which fish use to regulate their buoyancy. Its pectoral fins are so reduced that they are barely visible at all.

As a result, the pelican eel is a poor swimmer and hunter. But its gaping maw makes the eel an exceptional opportunistic predator. A light organ, or photophore, at the tip of the eel's tail glows pink or bright red in the dark water and is thought to act as a fishing lure, attracting prey close to the eel's massive trap of a mouth.

A pelican eel's elastic stomach can stretch significantly to hold a hefty meal. In 2023, scientists were exploring waters near Costa Rica using a remotely operated vehicle, when they spotted a pelican eel that had recently eaten. As it swam away from the camera, its belly was visibly and dramatically distended. Its shape hinted that the eel's recent dinner was a squid, the researchers reported.

When male pelican eels become sexually mature, their jaws weaken and they lose teeth but grow larger olfactory organs, improving their sense of smell. This likely helps them find mates. But as is the case with many deep-sea dwellers, there is still much to be learned about this species' habits and behaviors in the wild.

The scaly-foot snail, or volcano snail, possesses something unique among gastropods: a coat of protective armor covering its foot, made from hundreds of overlapping iron-infused scales. It fortifies these scales with minerals absorbed from the hot liquid spewed by hydrothermal vents and black smoker chimneys at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, where water can reach temperatures of 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius).

Related: Elusive colossal squid finally caught on camera 100 years after discovery in world 1st footage

Within the snail's scales, sulfur reacts with iron ions to form iron sulfide nanoparticles. Further toughening the snail's defenses is an outer layer of iron sulfide in its shell, making it the only known multicellular animal to strengthen its skeleton with iron. When the National Museum of Wales acquired a pair of specimens in 2015, curators were told to avoid using any water in the preservative solution, because otherwise the snails would start to rust.

Underneath all that armor, the scaly-foot snail has a big heart — the largest in the Animal Kingdom relative to the animal's size — making up about 4% of the volume of its entire body. In waters where oxygen levels are low, that enormous heart also supplies oxygen to the symbiotic bacteria that live in the snail's esophageal gland and act as a built-in food factory. The snails, whose shells measure about 2 inches (5 centimeters) in length on average, are sometimes called "sea pangolins" for their resemblance to the armor-plated land mammal.

Individuals have both male and female sex organs. They creep along the ocean bottom at depths of approximately 1.7 miles (2,780 meters), and are known from just three hydrothermal vent fields to the east of Mauritius, an island off the southeastern coast of Africa.

While the snails' potential habitat adds up to around 0.1 square miles (0.3 square kilometers), the range where they are currently found covers just 0.008 square miles (0.02 sq km). But even this tiny sliver of the deep ocean is becoming unsafe for the snails, due to human activity.

In 2019, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added scaly-foot snails to its Red List of life at risk of extinction. The snails became the first animal to be listed as "endangered" due to threats to two of its three habitat locations from deep sea mining.

The bone collector is not just a very hungry caterpillar — it has an appetite for flesh. And once it finishes scavenging on dead or dying insects trapped in a spider's web, the bone collector covers itself in the legs, wings or heads of its prey for camouflage to avoid being eaten.

The newly discovered caterpillar inhabits a roughly 6-square-mile (15 square kilometers) area in the Wai'anae mountain range on Oahu and lives exclusively in and around cobwebs in logs, tree hollows or rock cavities. The bone collector uses the dark setting to its advantage: If the spider host detects movement on its web, it will rush over to attack the intruder. But under the cover of darkness, the silk casing layered in inedible body parts smells, or tastes, like last week's lunch. The tactic works well, as the caterpillars have never been found to be eaten by spiders or wrapped in their silk, according to a study in the journal Science.

The bone collector is part of the genus Hyposmocoma, small moths that live in Hawaii and are known for weaving mobile silk containers. Whereas other varieties might decorate their shelters with bits of algae or lichen to look like tree bark, for example, no other known Hyposmocoma species  recognizes random insect body parts and attaches them to its case.

The species evolved at least 6 million years ago, according to the researchers, making it older than the island of Oahu. This suggests bone collector moths migrated from an even older Hawaiian island that has since disappeared to get to their current forest.

Carnivorous caterpillars are extremely unusual. They make up about 0.13% of the world's moth and butterfly species, but the bone collector, in particular, is especially rare — after more than two decades of fieldwork, researchers have found only 62 specimens.

In terms of survival, the bone collectors aren't helping their cause. They are territorial, and typically only one caterpillar is found on a single cobweb because they cannibalize the competition.

Fortunately for us, the bone collector caterpillar is only about a quarter of an inch (5 millimeters) long.

" I have no doubt that if we were their size, they would eat us," Daniel Rubinoff, lead author of the study and an entomologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told Live Science. "There's no way that they would just eat insects. That just happens to be their fighting class, so to speak."

The wandering salamander isn't an average amphibian. Instead of skulking under logs or swimming in swamps, it lives an arboreal lifestyle. Native to the redwood forests, these amphibians spend most of their lives in trees, residing in the deep bark fissures and devouring insects.

With their homes over 300 feet (90 meters) off the ground, wandering salamanders glide across trees for resources and foraging, so they need a veritable grip during landing — if not, they could plummet to the forest floor.

To stay safe, wandering salamanders possess a unique gliding mechanism: 18 blood-powered toes. These specialized appendages are key to the salamander's precise leaping and landing through the complex canopy.

According to a study published in the Journal of Morphology, the wandering salamander controls its grip on the tree bark by pumping and draining blood in the tips of their square-shaped toes.

Scientists had previously theorized that the bright blood flow beneath their translucent skin helped keep their feet oxygenated. However, no empirical evidence backed this claim.

While using high-resolution video trials, biologists led by Christian Brown, a researcher at Washington State University, discovered that wandering salamanders can finely control the blood flow to each side of the toe tip asymmetrically, to increase or decrease the contact area with the surface.

When the salamander prepares to jump over branches, it quickly fills the toe tip with blood. The increased blood pressure helps salamanders to detach from the tree, as the blood influx increases the pressure and causes the toe pads to expand momentarily. This slight lift reduces the contact area, making it easier to detach from the surface.

Equally vital is the reverse process; wandering salamanders swiftly drain the blood from their toe tips when they land. This softens the toes and increases surface contact, allowing them to conform better to the irregular and rough texture, providing a more secure and effective grip that prevents the salamander from slipping.

They regulate the pressure dynamically depending on whether they're stepping, gripping, or releasing.

"If you're climbing a redwood and have 18 toes gripping bark, being able to detach efficiently without damaging your toe tips makes a huge difference," Brown said in a statement.

Across the vast plains of southern South America, a chubby rodent reigns underground in a vibrant, hierarchical world. The plains viscacha, a stout cousin of the chinchilla, builds subterranean "cities" known as "vizcacheras," where up to 50 individuals live together. With tunnels reaching 10 feet (3 meters) deep, these complex networks of dark chambers and hidden entrances fascinated Charles Darwin during his 19th-century travels through the region.

These underground engineers are thought to live up to eight years. These animals are organized into complex colonies and guided, in part, by the vizcachón — the oldest and most experienced male — who signals the all-clear each evening. As dusk falls, the vizcachón is the first to emerge as a lookout. If all is calm, he gives the signal, and the rest of the group follows.

The name "viscacha" is derived from the Quechua word "wisk'acha" — a word that mimics the sound the animal makes. It has a broad head, large eyes, and pointed ears, as well as long, stiff whiskers; short front legs with strong claws for digging, longer hind legs for leaping; and a short, furry tail. Its grayish fur — which is darker on the back, and lighter on the belly — and the two black stripes running from its snout past its eyes give it a striking look.

But it's not just its appearance that's notable; this rodent holds a mammalian record: The female viscacha can release up to 326 eggs in a single reproductive cycle, making it the most prolific ovulator ever recorded among mammals, according to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Zoology – A.

Viscachas reproduce in the fall, when females go into heat and males compete fiercely — sometimes even fighting — for a chance to mate. Sex takes place inside the burrow, and after a five-month gestation, the female usually gives birth to two young.

Even more surprising is how the viscacha pulls off this feat: A rare dual mechanism combines spontaneous ovulation, which may help eliminate defective eggs, with induced ovulation, which is triggered by hormones or seminal plasma, to ensure the fertilization of the highest-quality eggs.

Name: Dracula parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus)

Where it lives: New Guinea

What it eats: Figs, flowers and nectar

Why it's awesome: The Pesquet's parrot is more famously known as the Dracula parrot — and with its mix of jet-black and blood-red feathers, it's easy to see why. They also sound terrifying, as their piercing screams echo through the rainforests of New Guinea.

Dracula parrots grow to around 18 inches (46 centimeters) long and weigh between 1.3 and 1.8 lbs (600 and 800 grams). They can live for around 20 to 40 years. Their plumage is mostly black and dark grey, but they sport red feathers around the belly, tail and wings. Adult males have red patches behind their eyes, which distinguishes them from females.

The species' guttural, rasping screams are very distinct. Unlike the chirps or squawks of typical parrots, the call of the Dracula parrot is a harsh screech that sounds more like a mythical predator than a fruit-eating bird. This unusual sound likely evolved as a way for the birds to communicate across the dense forests of New Guinea, and possibly to deter potential threats.

Related: Great potoo: The 'tree stump' bird with a haunting growl and can see with its eyes closed

Dracula parrots often make the unusual noises during flight. This may be to help individuals stay in contact with their flock mates on the wing, especially in areas with thick foliage, where the birds can easily lose sight of one another. Their screams may also serve as territorial signs or warning calls that alert other animals to their presence or assert dominance over feeding areas.

With their long, hooked beaks and semi-bald heads, Dracula parrots resemble vultures. But unlike the meat-eating birds of prey, the parrots aren't as bloodthirsty as their nickname suggests. Instead, they're keen fruit-eaters with a particular taste for figs and, occasionally, flowers or nectar. The birds lack feathers on their faces, and this localized baldness is thought to help prevent matting when they're eating messy fruits.

Although little is known about the breeding habits of Dracula parrots, it's thought that they nest in large, hollow trees. They typically mate once a year and lay one or two eggs at a time.

Because of their highly prized feathers and the market for captive exotic birds, Dracula parrots have been hunted and are now classed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Name: Northern giant mouse lemur (Mirza zaza)

Where it lives: Northern Madagascar

What it eats: Fruits, flowers, nectar, tree sap and small insects

Why it's awesome: Northern giant mouse lemurs may be tiny, but they have a striking trait: remarkably large testicles. The primates only weigh around 10 ounces (300 grams), but they have the largest testes-to-body ratio of all primates — with their testicles making up around 5% of their body weight.

These nocturnal lemurs, which are native to the forests of the Ampasindava peninsula in northwestern Madagascar, are around 10 inches (25 centimeters) long, excluding their tails.

Only discovered in 2005, they have large, round, reflective eyes that enable them to see in low light. Their long, fluffy tails help them balance as they jump through the trees, and their large, thin ears help them listen out for predators.

But it's their unusually large testicles that make them stand out from the crowd.

If humans had a similar ratio, their testicles would be the size of grapefruits, according to New Scientist. These animals' testicles are so large that often, lemurs will bump and bruise their testicles as they jump and swing between tree branches – which is an unfortunate consequence of their physical traits.

The reason these lemurs have such large testicles is because they have a polygynandrous mating system, meaning both males and females have multiple partners. As the males face intense competition to fertilize females, they evolved larger testes to produce more sperm. Higher amounts of sperm means they can produce larger ejaculations and mate more frequently.

Unlike many other lemur species, northern giant mouse lemurs don't have specific mating seasons, so they reproduce all year round. Researchers think this is because nutrient-rich foods are constantly available. As a result, their testicles stay huge throughout the year.

When females are ready to mate, they let out calls to attract males. They give birth to one offspring after about three months, but because they mate year-round, they can have two or three infants in a year. Females are the sole care providers for the young, and the offspring reach maturity at around 1 year old.

Northern giant mouse lemurs build nests high in the trees to protect themselves from predators and harsh environmental conditions, such as monsoons. They form communal sleeping nests that can house up to eight lemurs, including multiple males and lemurs of different ages, which is an uncommon social behavior. It's not known exactly why they do this, but it may be to help them keep warm during the colder months and therefore conserve their energy.

Name: Asian hermit spider (Nephilengys malabarensis)

Where it lives: South, Southeast and East Asia (including India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China, Japan and Indonesia)

What it eats: Moths, beetles, flies, crickets and other small insects

Why it's awesome: The Asian hermit spider is no ordinary arachnid. This spider has evolved an adaptation that allows it to reproduce while escaping the threat of female cannibalism: It can detach its penis.

This spider species displays extreme sexual dimorphism, meaning that males and females have significantly different appearances. Females can grow up to around 0.59 inches (15 millimeters), while males are less than 0.20 inches (5 millimeters).

Males face considerable risks during mating due to aggression from females, which may kill and eat their partners before or after mating. Sex can be so treacherous for the males that they have developed the ability to detach their penis so they can leave it pumping sperm while they flee to safety.

In this process of "remote copulation," a male spider's palp — its sperm-delivering organ, of which it has two — can break off inside the female's reproductive tract. The broken-off palp can remain inside the female and continue pumping sperm into her even after the male has escaped.

While studying this "eunuch phenomenon" among orb-web spiders, biologists discovered that the longer the severed palp is left in the female genitals, the more sperm it transfers. And palp breakage induced by the female, instead of the male, led to faster sperm transfer.

The detachable penis also serves another important function: It acts as a mating plug. After breaking off, the embolus — a needle-like structure that delivers the sperm — stays lodged inside the female's reproductive opening to prevent other males from mating with her. This reduces sperm competition and increases the likelihood that the male's genes will be passed on.

After losing its penis, the male spider also becomes more aggressive and guards the female from other males that might try to dislodge the "palp plug" and inseminate the female.

According to a 2011 study in the journal Animal Behaviour, removing one palp reduces the spider's body weight and increases its endurance, thereby boosting its ability to fight. This finding supports what the researchers called a "gloves-off" mating strategy, where the spiders have nothing to live for other than protecting their potential offspring.

The male spiders also have another trick to prevent being eaten by the females: Sometimes, they offer one of their legs to the female as a distraction during mating. This act of self-amputation, known as autotomy, reduces the risk of being attacked or eaten during the mating process. It can also buy the male time to escape.

Name: Great potoo (Nyctibius grandis)

Where it lives: Central and South America

What it eats: Large insects, bats and small birds

Why it's awesome: The great potoo is a master of disguise. Its mottled gray-brown feathers and ability to remain perfectly still often cause it to be mistaken for a tree branch or stump, helping it evade detection by predators.

Native to the forests and tropical lowlands of Central and South America, this nocturnal bird can grow to 24 inches (60 centimeters) tall and has a wingspan of more than 28 inches (70 cm). Its gray, brown and white plumage helps it blend seamlessly with the bark of the trees it lands on, making it nearly undetectable by other animals.

By day, great potoos remain silent and still in the trees. But at night, they become active hunters. Their large, owl-like eyes, which protrude from the sides of their heads, provide excellent vision in low-light conditions. Equipped with a large, flattened beak and mouth, these birds are well-adapted to snatching prey such as flying insects and bats out of the air.

Great potoos also have slits in their eyelids, which enable them to see when their eyes are closed. These "notches" help the birds to sense light and movement through their shut eyelids, so they can detect predators and prey even when resting.

Great potoos are also unusual thanks to their distinctive calls. Throughout the night, they emit a loud, moaning growl. This ghostly call has earned the bird a mythical status in local folklore, with some communities in South America believing the sounds to be children calling for lost parents. These calls are used for communication and to defend their territories.

Potoos are monogamous birds, forming lifelong pairs that share the responsibilities of incubation and care for their young. Female great potoos lay a single egg in a natural depression on a tree branch, so they rely on their camouflage and sight to protect themselves and their offspring.

The incubation period for great potoo eggs is approximately 30 days, with both parents sharing the responsibility of incubating the egg. Due to their elusive nature, not much is known about their lifespan — but they are believed to live for around 12 to 14 years, like other bird species.

Name: Sparklemuffin peacock spider (Maratus jactatus)

Where it lives: Wondul Range National Park, Queensland, Australia

What it eats: Small insects and arthropods

Why it's awesome: These colorful critters don't just dress to the nines to woo their mate. Males also do a sexy shimmy to dazzle the ladies.

Measuring no bigger than 0.2 inches (0.5 centimeters), the sparklemuffin peacock spider is, arguably, one of the cutest spiders around. These jumping spiders were discovered as a new species in 2015.

Females are a dull brownish gray but — like their namesake, the peacock — male sparklemuffins pull out all the stops in the outfit department. With their striking red and blue backs, they look similar to kicking peacock spiders (Maratus calcitrans) and fingers peacock spiders (Maratus digitatus).

But they have a secret up their sleeve that makes them unique: a small flap on the side of their abdomen that they can extend to show off iridescent blue scales.

In case their gaudy garb isn't enough to impress, the males also know how to bust a move. Their Latin name (jactatus) means "rocking" or "jolting" because of the thrusting dance they perform for prospective mates.

Related: Surprisingly-bad acting is key to jumping spider's survival

During courtship, males unfold their fan — a flap on their abdomen used in courtship — and tilt it to one side. At the same time, they lift up their third leg on the same side, lower it slowly then whip it back up, like someone teasing a dog by dangling its toy just out of reach. This jerking motion makes their whole body waggle around, creating vibrations that the female can sense through the ground.

"When [the male] got within a few centimeters of the female, he exploded into a firework of activity," entomologist Jürgen Otto, who wrote the paper describing the species and runs the website Peacock Spider, previously told Live Science.

The species was discovered by a graduate student called Madeline Girard who nicknamed it "sparklemuffin." She discovered another species at the same time and gave it the moniker “Skeletorus” because of its striking black and white markings that look like a Halloween skeleton costume.

Otto believes there could still be many more species of peacock spider out there. "Despite the large number of species we have discovered just in the last few years, I can't help feeling that we may have just scratched the surface of this most exciting group of spiders," he said, "and that nature has quite a few more surprises in store."

Editor's note: This story was updated at 12:40 p.m. ET to correct a measurement conversation.

Name: King of the cave centipede (Cryptops speleorex)

Where it lives: Movile Cave, southeastern Romania

What it eats: Insects, spiders and smaller centipedes

Why it's awesome: This deadly, yellow centipede has evolved to live in the Movile Cave — a pitch black, sulfurous underground system untouched by sunlight for more than 5 million years.

Discovered in 2020, Cryptops speleorex — meaning "king of the cave" — sits at the top of the food chain in the unique ecosystem. It is the largest invertebrate species in the cave, growing to between 1.8 and 2 inches (46 to 52 millimeters) long.

The centipede has adapted to life in complete darkness. Unlike its surface-dwelling cousins, C. speleorex has no eyes. Instead, it relies on other senses to track down prey, such as its long antennae that are highly sensitive to touch. These antennae help it detect vibrations and movements of prey in its environment. With its long, spidery legs, the king of the cave can navigate tight spaces with ease. The centipede has venomous pincers called forcipules that are designed to catch and immobilize prey once it gets close.

To survive in an environment that has no sunlight — and therefore no plants that produce energy via photosynthesis — the creatures in the cave depend on nutrients produced by bacteria through the oxidation of gases like methane and sulfur. This process is called chemosynthesis. C. speleorex then eats other creatures in the cave to gain these nutrients.

The king of the cave also has to contend with the array of deadly gases in its home. The Movile Cave is abundant in hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide, while it has around half the normal level of oxygen in the air outside the system.

It’s not known exactly how they have adapted to survive these gases. However, C. speleorex breathes through spiracles connected to a tracheal system that may have evolved to efficiently extract oxygen in low-oxygen environments.

While some species found in the cave also exist outside of it — such as microscopic roundworms called nematodes (Nematoda) — C. speleorex does not leave its inhospitable home, according to the researchers who discovered it.

"Our results confirmed our doubts and revealed that the Movile centipede is morphologically and genetically different, suggesting that it has been evolving from its closest surface-dwelling relative over the course of millions of years into an entirely new taxon that is better adapted to life in the never-ending darkness," the researchers said in a statement at the time.

Name: Labord's chameleon (Furcifer labordi)

Where it lives: Western Madagascar

What it eats: Crickets, flies, locusts, grasshoppers and stick insects

Why it's awesome: Labord's chameleons live fast and die young. They hold the record for the shortest lifespan of all tetrapods — they hatch, grow, mate and die in just four to five months.

Labord's chameleons actually spend more time developing inside their eggs than they do outside of them. For around eight to nine months, the embryos rest beneath the forest floor, preparing for their whirlwind time above ground.

These short-lived chameleons grow to around 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) long and are found exclusively in forests in the lowlands of western Madagascar.

Once they hatch, they grow quickly and reach sexual maturity at 2 months old.

Their aggressive mating season begins in January, during the wet season, with males battling fiercely for the chance at reproducing then dying shortly after.

Females then put all their energy into producing eggs, which they lay in February. They have a relatively high reproductive rate to compensate for their short adult lifespan, with each female laying up to 11 eggs. Hours after laying their eggs, the females die.

This means that for two-thirds of the year, the entire species exists in eggs buried underground.

This unusual — and seemingly risky — lifecycle is thought to be a survival adaptation to the harsh seasonal environment of western Madagascar. The region experiences distinct wet and dry seasons, with the rainy season providing the necessary resources for survival, such as food and water, while these become more scarce in the dry season. Although many tropical regions experience wet and dry seasons, the climate of Madagascar is extremely variable and environmental unpredictability is much greater than other tropical areas.

To align with these conditions, the chameleons have evolved to spend most of the year as embryos in their eggs — emerging during the brief rainy season to mate and lay more eggs.

By compressing their entire adult existence into the wet season, the chameleons maximize their chances of finding food and mates. This strategy also reduces competition for resources, as most adults die before the next generation hatches (although during unusually long rainy seasons, females can survive for a second breeding season).

Chameleons are known for their ability to change color, and Labord's chameleons are no different. Their skin changes color by expanding and contracting special cells that contain nanocrystals, which alters how they reflect light. But they don't do it to camouflage themselves. Instead, they use it to communicate with other chameleons — for example, to attract mates — and in response to emotions.

In a 2024 PBS documentary filmed in the Kirindy Forest in western Madagascar, a Labord's chameleon broke into a vibrant, pulsating display of color just moments before its death. This is the result of the nervous systems continuing to send signals to skin cells, resulting in a dramatic "technicolor fireworks display," according to the experts in the documentary.

Name: Mount Kaputar pink slug (Triboniophorus sp. nov. 'Kaputar' or Triboniophorus aff. graeffei)

Where it lives: Mount Kaputar, New South Wales, Australia

What it eats: Algae, moss, mushrooms, mold

Why it's awesome: Not all slugs blend into the background. Some, like the striking Mount Kaputar slug, stand out from the crowd. These slimy critters not only grow up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long, they also have vibrant, neon-red bodies that are hard to miss.

These distinctive hot-pink slugs are found only on an extinct volcano called Mount Kaputar, living at an altitude of around 4,900 feet (1,500 meters). Although Kaputar is surrounded by dry plains, occasional rain and snow over the mountain create a "sky island" — an isolated highland environment with unique flora and fauna.

Related: Blue dragon: The deadly sea slug that steals venom from its prey

A volcanic eruption 17 million years ago created this high-altitude area, where these colorful slugs have remained isolated for millions of years.

Kaputar slugs are related to red triangle slugs (Triboniophorus graeffei) that live in eastern Australia but are a distinct species. Their striking color is an evolutionary mystery, but it is likely linked to their isolated habitat.

The pink hue may come from pigments in their diet, or it could help them camouflage themselves among fallen red eucalyptus or snow gum leaves. It could also serve as a form of aposematism — a defence mechanism that warns predators that an animal or plant is unappetizing or toxic. It’s not known whether Kaputar slugs are toxic, so the hot pink color may be a trick to deter predators like birds or feral pigs.

During the day, Kaputar slugs hide in plant litter at the base of trees, emerging at night to climb the trees' trunks in search of algae and moss.

Up to 90% of the population was thought to have been lost in the 2019 Australian bushfires, but these slugs rebounded after cooler, wetter conditions spurred mass breeding. It's thought that a number of the slugs likely also survived the fires by taking refuge underground or in rock crevices.

Like many slugs, pink Kaputars play a vital role in their local ecosystem by breaking down fallen leaves into nutrient-rich soil, promoting healthy plant growth.

Animals quiz

Name: Antarctic scale worm (Eulagisca gigantea)

Where it lives: Below 1,640 (500 meters) deep in Antarctica's Southern Ocean

What it eats: Unknown. Probably other animals and/or organic debris.

Why it's awesome: With their shimmering golden coats, these worms almost look glamorous — until you see their horrifying jaws, which resemble the mouth of the xenomorph from "Alien."

The worms are named after the scales (known as elytra) that cover their bodies. These scales look a bit like human teeth, adding to the worms' dazzling-yet-gruesome appearance.

Growing up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long, Antarctic scale worms are a type of ocean-dwelling polychaete, or bristle worm (polychaete is Latin for "many bristles"). Related to earthworms and leeches, there are over 8,000 named polychaete species.

They have segmented bodies, with loads of little bristles sticking out of each section.

Different polychaete species use their bristles for different purposes, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). In this case, Antarctic scale worms' shimmering golden hairs could help them crawl or swim through the water, or defend themselves from threats. It's unclear why their bristles are golden.

Related: Ghostly white giant worms appear to be reproducing under the seafloor where tectonic plates meet

Their most remarkable body part, however, is often hidden. Their purplish "head" isn't actually a head at all but a retractable mouth they keep tucked away until they're ready to feast. The worms unfurl this proboscis to reveal a set of jaws almost 3 inches (7 cm) wide complete with large, sharp teeth, according to Australian Geographic.

We don't know exactly what they eat, but according to "The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of 'Ugly' Animals" (Wren & Rook, 2020) their large teeth mean they are likely "quick and aggressive hunters."

Although it was discovered in 1939, very little is known about this deep-sea species. Like other bristle worms, it probably plays an important role in keeping the ocean healthy. Bristle worms "are fabulous recyclers and builders, creating massive reef structures and tangles of tubes that house a myriad of other animals including crabs, snails, and (of course!) other worms," MBARI representatives wrote.

Name: Giant phantom jelly (Stygiomedusa gigantea)

Where it lives: Every ocean except the Arctic Ocean

What it eats: Plankton and small fish

Why it's awesome: Earth's oceans are home to many secretive and unusual creatures that humans rarely see — including giant phantom jellies. These elusive deep-sea creatures have a 3.3-foot-wide (1 meter) bell and four ribbon-like arms that grow up to 33 feet (10 m) long, making them among the largest invertebrate predators in the ocean.

The first giant phantom jelly specimen was collected in 1899 and described in 1910. The species has only been spotted around 120 times since. This is because these jellies generally live in deep waters, down as far as 22,000 feet (6,700 m) below the surface.

They have compressible, squashable bodies, which help them to survive the incredibly high pressures they experience at these depths.

In 2022, researchers observed giant phantom jellies on three separate occasions during submersible expeditions in Antarctica, with videos and images showing the creatures swimming at relatively shallow depths of between 260 and 920 feet (80 to 280 m). In a study reporting the sightings, researchers said it's likely the jellies live closer to the surface in high southern latitudes because seasonal variations in sunlight may drive prey closer to the surface.

Unlike other jellyfish, giant phantom jellies don't have stinging tentacles to catch prey. Instead, they wrap their arms around their food — usually plankton or small fish — and hoist them into their mouths.

Related: Newly discovered jellyfish is a 24-eyed weirdo related to the world's most venomous marine creature

Giant phantom jellies also differ from other jellyfish by being viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young. The young develop inside the mother before detaching from inside the hood and swimming out of their mother's mouth.

When there is visible light, giant phantom jellies emit a slight orange-red light via bioluminescence — meaning they produce light through natural chemical reactions. It's not known exactly why they glow, but researchers believe it could be to communicate, confuse predators, lure prey or attract potential mates. However, because these jellies live in the deep ocean — where red light cannot penetrate very far — their glow is very faint, which likely helps to keep them hidden.

These jellyfish are solo explorers, but they also appear to help to protect smaller sea creatures. During an expedition in the Gulf of California, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute spotted small fish, pelagic brotula (Thalassobathia pelagica) sheltering underneath a giant phantom jelly. In return, the fish aided the jelly by removing parasites.

Name: Common degu (Octodon degus)

Where it lives: Central Chile

What it eats: Grasses, seeds, bark — and sometimes their own poop

Why it's awesome: At around 10 to 12 inches (25 to 31 centimeters) long with brown fur, degus look like oversized hamsters with long tails. These round rodents are endemic to the Chilean Matorral region in South America, where they live in complex underground tunnels with as many as 10 other degus.

And within these degu societies, pee is of paramount importance.

These sociable animals use urine in several intriguing ways, including to bathe. To get clean, degus roll around in sand soaked with their own urine. Degus also use urine to scent mark their communal trails and territories.

Their urine reflects ultraviolet (UV) light —– which common degus are able to see. This enables them to identify social hot spots and territories, as well as other degus that have urine on their fur. Fresh degu urine reflects UV light more strongly than older urine. According to a 2003 study, degus can use their UV vision to distinguish between fresh and old urine marks, which helps them locate where others have been and where social activity is happening.

Unlike many other small rodents such as hamsters and chinchillas — which are nocturnal — degus are active during the day and sleep at night.

They've also got a nifty escape tactic to flee predators. If caught, common degus quickly detach their tails — a trick called "degloving" — which creates a distraction and gives the degus a chance to escape. However, the tails don’t grow back, so this is a one-time trick.

As highly sociable animals, common degus communicate in many different ways and can make up to 15 different sounds. They chatter their teeth when they are frustrated, squeak when they are scared, and make high-pitched warbling and barking sounds when excited. Degu mothers also make specific maternal calls when they are nursing their young, which is thought to stimulate and reinforce feeding.

Name: Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura)

Where it lives: Southern Canada to southernmost South America

What it eats: The carcasses of dead animals

Why it's awesome: These scavenger birds have an unexpected way of keeping predators away — by projectile vomiting stomach acid and semi-digested meat at their attackers.

Turkey vultures live in a range of habitats, including subtropical forests, shrublands and deserts. They have bald heads so that when they feast on carcasses, blood and guts don't get trapped in their feathers.

Like many other species of vulture, these birds feed on the remains of already dead animals, rather than killing prey themselves.

Despite their large size — with wingspans reaching around 5.5 feet (1.7 meters) — they're also preyed upon by other birds, including eagles, owls and hawks. But these vultures have a nifty escape mechanism. When they're threatened or scared, turkey vultures regurgitate a foul, acidic substance that can sting a predator's eyes and skin. Their gastric acid is as strong as battery acid and 100 times stronger than the acid found in human stomachs, which helps the birds neutralize the toxins found in their diet of decaying meat, such as anthrax and botulism.

They can propel this vomit up to 10 feet (3 m) away to distract and deter attackers. However, vomiting also enables these birds to quickly lighten their body weight, so they can take flight and escape more easily.

These birds also use their bodily fluids in other ways. Turkey vultures defecate and urinate on their own feet to cool them down in hot weather. Because the vultures' digestive juices kill bacteria, pooping on their legs also works as an antiseptic wash after standing on carcasses.

These scavengers find food using their sight and keen sense of smell. They fly low so they can detect the gasses produced by the early stages of decay in dead animals. According to a study published in the journal Ecosystem Services in 2022, vultures prevent tens of millions of metric tons of carbon emissions each year by eating carcasses before they decompose and release greenhouse gases.

Unlike other birds, turkey vultures lay their eggs on the ground and hide them in vegetation, caves or hollowed-out trees. Although they are social birds that live in groups, they lack a syrinx — the vocal organ of birds. So instead of birdsong, they communicate in grunts and hisses.

Name: Cave-dwelling dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus tetraspis)

Where it lives: Abanda cave system, Ogooue-Maritime Province, Gabon

What it eats: Cave crickets and bats

Why it's awesome: Deep inside one of Gabon's cave systems lives an unusual population of orange dwarf crocodiles. They live in complete darkness, feast on bats and swim in liquid guano (aka bat poop.)

It's unknown how many crocodiles are living in these caves, or when they adopted this subterranean lifestyle, but they may have been down there for thousands of years — and scientists say they may even be in the process of evolving into a new species.

The cave-dwelling crocodiles were only studied for the first time in 2010, and a 2016 study that compared them to their forest-dwelling counterparts showed a number of differences between the two. Their diets are very different, with the cave crocs feeding almost exclusively on the bounty of crickets and bats that cling to the cave walls. They found the cave crocodiles were generally in better condition than those living in the forest, which the team say is likely due to the abundance of prey available and a lack of predators.

They suggest the cave crocodiles lay their eggs at the mouth of the caves, then the juveniles venture into the darkness. Once they reach adulthood, it's thought they barely leave the caves again.

Orange skin and genetic changes

The unusual orange skin seen on adult crocodiles may be the result of their time swimming in bat guano, which is rich in urea, lead author Matthew Shirley, a conservation biologist from Florida International University, told National Geographic in 2018. Over time, this exposure appears to cause chemical bleaching of the crocodiles' skin, the study authors wrote.

Intriguingly, genetic analysis of the crocodiles — which has not been published — suggests the orange cave crocodiles may be mutating, according to a Guardian article in 2018. Researchers told the newspaper that one haplotype (a group of DNA variants inherited from a parent) found in the cave crocs wasn't present in the forest crocodiles. "The [crocodiles in the] caves of Abanda stand out as an isolated genetic group," study co-author Richard Oslisly, a researcher at France's Institute of Research for Development, told the Guardian.

This genetic change is evidence that the cave crocodiles are evolving into a new species. "As a result of that isolation and the fact that few individuals come in or go out, they're in the process of [becoming] a new species," Shirley told National Geographic. "Whether that happens soon or not is anyone's guess."

Crocodile quiz

Name: Hairy giant tarantula (Trichopelma grande)

Where it lives: Western Cuba

What it eats: Insects, lizards, frogs and other small reptiles

Why it's awesome:

Arachnophobes may not appreciate the discovery of a never-before-seen "giant" tarantula species, but for fans of these misunderstood creatures, Trichopelma grande is a special find. Not only is it larger and hairier than other spiders in its genus, it is the only kind with long, fluffy, "feather-duster" legs.

T. grande was first discovered in 2008 in Viñales National Park, a biodiversity hotspot in western Cuba. So far, only four specimens have been spotted: Three adult males and one juvenile male, all found in trap-door burrows on the ground.

The Trichopelma genus is made up of 23 species, with members all being very small tarantulas. As its name suggests, T. grande is the largest known member of the genus with a body length ranging from 0.33 to 0.44 inches (8.4 to 11.2 millimetres). However, the spider's most recognizable feature is its unusually hairy legs.

Hairy legs are typically associated with tree-dwelling tarantulas — called arboreal tarantulas — so this feature is very unusual for a ground-dwelling species.

David Ortiz, a researcher at Masaryk University in Czechia and lead author of the study describing the species, said having long, hairy legs may help the tarantulas defend themselves against predators like birds or snakes.

'Feather duster' legs

"The feather-duster legs are even more interesting, and might be associated with predator deterrence — the hairier the more impressive," Ortiz told Live Science in an email. "This might be particularly useful for males, because they have a 'wanderer' way of life, unlike females, who remain in their burrows almost at all times. Females might not be as hairy as males, but we are not sure yet. But these are just hypotheses."

Related: When stressed, these male spiders woo mates with empty 'take-out containers' instead of dinner

Having more leg hair likely also increases the spider's sensitivity to external stimuli, such as air currents, which helps them detect the movement of predators and prey. Being larger may also help the spiders to catch food, such as insects, frogs, lizards and other small reptiles.

These tarantulas likely aren't dangerous to humans. "Tarantulas usually have a very mild sting, probably less powerful than a bee sting. I expect the same from this species," Ortiz said.

The males are nomadic and abandon their homes to look for females to mate with. As of yet, no female tarantulas of this species have been discovered, so less is known about their behavior.

"I think that such a unique species deserves to be examined more deeply," Ortiz said. "The Viñales National Park is especially under threat by human activity (e.g., tree logging) and by extreme weather events like hurricanes. The valley of Viñales is deeply disturbed, and only forest patches remain untouched in the mogotes (hills) and sierras scattered along the valley."

Name: Leaf sheep, or leaf slug (Costasiella kuroshimae)

Where it lives: Shallow waters across Asia and the Coral Triangle

What it eats: Algae

Why it's awesome: These tiny marine creatures are probably better known by their nickname, "Shaun the Sheep" sea slugs, because of their uncanny resemblance to the iconic TV character.

The adorable critters have white faces, small black eyes and two "ears." These structures are special organs called rhinophores covered in tiny hairs that help the leaf sheep sense chemicals in the water and find food. Their tiny bodies are covered with green structures called cerata, which look like leaves and give them a larger surface area for gas exchange.

Growing to 0.3 inches (8 millimeters) long, leaf sheep were first discovered off Kuroshima Island, Japan, in 1993. They have also been recorded in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Shaun the Sheep sea slugs are found in shallow waters near coral reefs. They live on algae, which also provides them with food.

Solar-powered sea slugs

When leaf sheep munch on algae, they absorb chloroplasts — special structures where photosynthesis takes place. These are filled with chlorophyll, and the green pigment gives the sea slugs' bodies a leaf-like color. This not only helps them blend in with their surroundings to better hide from predators but also gives them a clever way of generating food.

Related: Blue dragon: The deadly sea slug that steals venom from its prey

The sea slugs steal the chloroplasts through a process called kleptoplasty — from the Greek word for "thief" — and store them in their tissues for up to 10 days. The chloroplasts continue working inside the animals, enabling them to create energy through photosynthesis.

"Imagine you ate a salad and kept the chloroplast from it in your digestive system, so you just need to put yourself under the sun to make food," Miguel Azcuna, assistant professor of marine natural products chemistry at Batangas State University in the Philippines, told the BBC. "It's convenient for survival." Azcuna is an expert in coral reef ecology.

Along with corals, spotted salamanders and giant clams, these solar-powered slugs are among the few animals that can photosynthesize.

Name: Chungungo, or marine otter (Lontra felina)

Where it lives: Rocky marine coastline from northern Peru to the islands of Cape Horn in Chile, and Isla de los Estados in Argentina

What it eats: Crustaceans, mollusks, fish, and occasionally birds and small mammals

Why it's awesome: Meet the chungungo — also known as the marine otter and sea cat — the smallest sea otter in the world.

The chungungo rarely grows beyond 45 inches (114 centimeters) in length and weighs just 6.6 to 11 pounds (3 to 5 kilograms). Its elongated body and small, flattened head give it a streamlined silhouette for swimming. But despite being well-adapted to the water, the chungungo only spends about 20% of each day in the water because of the frigid temperatures.

Unlike river otters, marine otters aren't great at regulating their body temperature. To retain heat they have to boost their metabolism, which requires them eating huge quantities of food — up to a third of their body weight each day. They also spend a lot of time lying on their backs, soaking up the sun, and diligently groom their coats to maintain their insulating properties.

Their highly vascularized feet also allow them to regulate their body temperature — spreading their toes helps cool them down, while closing them up conserves warmth.

The chungungo's short limbs are equipped with strong claws and webbed toes, ideal for catching prey. They use their tails and hind limbs to propel themselves through the water and are often found swimming on their backs. This position allows them to hold prey against its chest and manipulate it with its rear limbs.

Related: Lion-size otters prowled Ethiopia 3 million years ago

Chungungo fur, once heavily coveted by the fur trade, is dark brown on the back and yellowish on the belly. Beneath the outer coat lies a dense layer of fine hairs that insulate it from the cold and protect it from injury against the rocky coast. Marine otters live in extreme conditions — the rocky coasts they inhabit experience extreme swells and strong winds, while the cliffs are often steep, with their dens built into crevices and caves.

Chungungo pups are known for their curiosity and playfulness. During their breeding season (December to January), adults select a mate and remain together for life. In these monogamous partnerships, both parents share the responsibility of bringing prey back to the den to nourish their offspring.

Females give birth to one to three pups, which stay with their mothers for 8 to 12 months. Then, they separate from their parents and lead a solitary life, until they form a pair during the reproductive season.

Name: Turuchan pika (Ochotona turuchanensis)

Where it lives: Mountains of central Siberia

What it eats: Plants and vegetation, including nettles

Why it's awesome: Central Siberia may be a harsh and challenging environment, but that doesn't stop the Turuchan pika from having fun. These small, fluffy mammals are known for their love of all types of play — from swinging from branches to chasing each other.

Turuchan pikas are rock-dwelling creatures that live in areas of the Central Siberian Plateau, a mountainous region in central Russia. Because they live in such a specific, isolated region, not much is known about them — but they are thought to be a subspecies of the northern pika (Ochotona hyperborea) found across Northern Asia. They grow up to 7.8 inches (20 centimeters) long and are covered in dense, dark fur, which helps them survive in cold habitats and provides camouflage against predators in the rocky terrain. They have strong hind legs, making them well-adapted for climbing, jumping and, importantly, playing.

Between 2020 and 2021, Russian researchers studied a local population of Turuchan pikas on the Primorsky Mountain Ridge in the Irkutsk region to find out how and why they play. They observed the animals jumping up and grabbing branches with their teeth, as well as swinging from bushes and shrubs and rolling from side to side on their backs.

Related: Cats are better at word association than human babies are, study finds

In one moment documented by the biologists, an adult female and an adult male took turns hiding behind rocks and then jumping out at one another. Others scampered after each other in a game of chase.

The pikas also engaged in an activity researchers nicknamed "jerk-uplifting." They suddenly jumped onto their hind legs, threw their heads back and stretched their front legs forward, often with leaves or lichen in their mouths. It's not known exactly why they did this, but they seemed to be playing with their food before eating it.

Intriguingly, scientists spotted both young and adult Turuchan pikas playing — suggesting it's an activity not just enjoyed by juveniles.

Although wild animals sometimes appear to play while engaging in survival behaviors — like finding food, mating or keeping a lookout for predators — the pikas' games seemed to be purely social. In other words, they played just for fun.

Researchers say this is the first time that any animal from the Lagomorpha order (which includes rabbits and hares) has been observed engaging in all three types of play behavior (locomotor, object and social) in the wild. Locomotor play is when individuals play actively in their environment, object play is when they interact with items like twigs or rocks, and social play is where they play with each other. "The discovered phenomenon undoubtedly requires further research," researchers wrote in the Zoological Journal.

Name: Green spoonworm (Bonellia viridis)

Where it lives: Seabeds in the northeast Atlantic, from the Mediterranean to northern Norway

What it eats: Organic matter filtered from the water and small invertebrates.

Why it's awesome: Green spoonworms are named for their spoon-shaped proboscis — a long,sucking mouthpart used for feeding — which stretches out into the water to catch food floating by.

"They basically look like a tentacle monster from a sci-fi film," Trond Roger Oskars, a research scientist specializing in marine invertebrates at Møreforsking Research Institute, told Live Science in an email.

The rest of their thick, sausage-shaped body remains buried in the seafloor — sometimes in burrows created by other animals — while their ribbon-like proboscis flutters in the water to fish for tiny pieces of organic matter to eat, including algae, rotten materials and even poop. "They're like vacuum cleaners sweeping over the ocean floor," Oskars said.

While green spoonworms' bodies are around 6 or 7 inches (15 to 18 centimeters) long, "that wavy proboscis can extend up to 10 times longer," he said.

Their iconic bright green color, which comes from a toxic pigment called bonellin, warns predators to stay away. But not all green spoonworms look like this. "Here's the twist!" Oskars said. "The green specimens you see are only the females."

The sex of an individual relies on chemistry rather than genetics. If a larva floats through the ocean and settles on the seafloor, it develops into a female. But if a larva lands on a female, it reacts to the bonellin in her body and turns into a male. Like some species of anglerfish, these males are microscopic and are absorbed into her body, becoming a parasite with the sole purpose of fertilizing her eggs. "It's basically reduced to a living testicle," he said.

Related: 'Parasitic provider of sperm on-tap': Why the sex lives of deep sea creatures demand extreme solutions

As well as protecting spoonworms from predators and turning males into living gonads, bonellin kills bacteria. "It is being targeted as a potential new antibiotic but may have a whole host of other interesting uses," Oskars said. "They are a prime example of why we need to know more about weird creatures and their habitats… We know only 10% of the species in the ocean, who knows what other creatures are hiding that have additional benefits?"

Name: Cantor's giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii)

Where it lives: Rivers in South and Southeast Asia

What it eats: Fish, crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, insects, birds, small mammals

Why it's awesome: Cantor's giant softshell turtles — named in honor of Danish zoologist Theodore Edward Cantor — spend 95% of their lives completely motionless, buried under mud or sand in shallow rivers with only their eyes and snorkel-like snouts protruding out. But when these unusual-looking reptiles spot something to eat, they can move at lightning-quick speeds.

When they spot fish, frogs or crustaceans, they rapidly extend their necks to strike their prey. They have long claws and powerful jaws that are strong enough to crush bone.

Unlike their hard-shelled cousins, these turtles have leathery, flat, green or brown shells. These large, freshwater turtles are also known as "frog-faced softshells" because of their amphibian-like facial features. They can grow up to 40 inches (100 centimeters) long — although some sources suggest they can grow even larger — and weigh more than 100 kilograms.

Like other soft-shell turtle species, they are thought to have the ability to extract oxygen from the water through their skin, which helps them stay underwater for long periods of time. However, they can only get so much oxygen this way, so they come up to the surface to breathe air twice a day.

These endangered turtles are extremely rare: Between 1985 and 1995, only a single specimen was found. They are native to rivers in India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines and Indonesia.

In 2024, the first nesting site of a Cantor was discovered by biologists on the banks of the Chandragiri River in Kerala,India. The researchers used knowledge from local communities to locate the turtle.

Name: Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)

Where it lives: Freshwater rivers in India and Nepal

What it eats: Fish. Juveniles also eat insects, frogs and crustaceans.

Why it's awesome: The gharial is known for its long, skinny snout, which looks like it got slammed in a door.

An adult male has a "ghara" at the end of its snout: a lightbulb-shaped bump, named after a bulbous Indian pot. This bizarre lump looks attractive to females and helps males woo their mates by blowing bubbles and creating a strange love song.

This ghara "partially covers the crocodile's nostrils and acts as a vocal resonator, creating a loud, buzzing sound when the gharial vocalizes," according to Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

If these crocodilian pickup lines are successful and the male attracts a female — or several, as gharials are polygamous — the pair mate. This usually happens in December or January. In March or April, when the dry season arrives, females dig nests and lay around 40 eggs.

Related: Low-flying helicopter sparks massive crocodile orgy in Australia

These large eggs are the biggest of all crocodilian eggs. Weighing up to 6 ounces (170 grams), they're about the same weight as a hockey puck. Once fully grown, adults can reach 15 feet (4.5 meters) and, on average, weigh around 350 pounds (160 kilograms).

"As with all crocodilians, the sex of the hatchlings is determined during incubation," according to Smithsonian. Incubation can take between 60 and 80 days. Babies stay with their mother for several weeks, or sometimes months, after hatching.

Although they look like crocodiles or alligators, gharials split off from other crocodilian species over 40 million years ago.

Unlike crocs and gators, gharials don't ambush their prey. Instead, swiping their snout from left to right allows them to detect vibrations in the water. Using this method, they find nearby fish and chomp on them with their interlocking teeth.

These animals are well-adapted to watery habitats but can’t move well on land because their leg muscles are too weak, so they slide on their bellies to get around above water.

Gharials were once plentiful between Pakistan and Myanmar, with an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 individuals in the wild in the 1940s. They are now critically endangered as a result of hunting, fishing and habitat loss, with around 650 mature individuals left. Captive breeding, nest monitoring and other conservation activities helped boost this number from around 250 in 2006.

Name: Northern sea robin (Prionotus carolinus)

Where it lives: The shallow waters of the western Atlantic, from Nova Scotia to Florida

What it eats: Shrimp, crabs, squid, worms and small fish

Why it's awesome: Northern sea robins are weird fish with big, spiny heads; bright-blue eyes; two giant wing fins; and six crab-like legs.

It's these little legs that make sea robins so unusual. Other sea creatures follow these fish around because they are so good at finding and digging up buried food — but until recently, scientists didn't understand what made northern robin fish such skilled foragers.

In two studies published in 2024, researchers revealed that northern sea robins' legs act like tongues, allowing the fish to taste their surroundings for signs of food.

"This is a fish that grew legs using the same genes that contribute to the development of our limbs and then repurposed these legs to find prey using the same genes our tongues use to taste food — pretty wild," study author Nicholas Bellono, a professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard University, said in a statement.

The scientists found that northern sea robins can detect and uncover ground-up mussels using papillae that cover their legs. Papillae are small sensory structures, which in humans are found on the upper surface of the tongue. The researchers discovered that northern sea robin papillae have taste receptors and touch-sensitive neurons, enabling the fish to use their legs to taste the ground to find food.

In one of the studies, the researchers grew northern sea robins from embryos in a lab to watch their legs develop. They found that the legs grew from the pectoral fins, separating from the rest of the fin rays during development. The legs are controlled by distinct walking muscles at the base of the legs and are shaped like shovels to help the fish dig.

Although all sea robin species have legs, not all are adapted for digging and tasting, the team found. "We were surprised to see how much sea robins differ from each other in sensory structures found on the legs," study co-author David Kingsley, a developmental biologist at Stanford University, said in the statement. "The system thus displays multiple levels of evolutionary innovation from differences between sea robins and most other fish, differences between sea robin species, and differences in everything from structure and sensory organs to behavior."

But northern sea robins' tongue legs don't always lead to a meal. After the northern sea robins dig up their dinner, the fish following them often swoop in and steal their food, in an act known as kleptoparasitism.

Name: Babirusa (Babyrousa)

Where it lives: Sulawesi and neighboring islands in Indonesia

What it eats: Leaves, fruit, mushrooms, tree bark, insects, fish and small mammals

Why it's awesome: When we think of pigs, we tend to picture round animals with cute snouts, but babirusas are very different.

Male babirusas have large upper canine teeth, which grow downwards before curving back around and up through the top of the snout.

Like human fingernails and hair, these tusk-like teeth continue to grow throughout their lifetime — and they can even grow into the skull. After protruding from the tops of the snout, the teeth look like antlers, which is how babirusas got their name — the word babirusa means "pig deer" in the Malay language. Babirusas are also sometimes called "prehistoric pigs" because they appear in cave drawings from nearly 40,000 years ago.

Scientists don't know exactly why male babirusas have these tusks. Originally, biologists believed they helped males fight each other to win mates, but babirusas don't actually use their tusks for fighting — they get up on their hind legs and box each other. Babirusa tusks are also fragile, making them unsuitable for combat. It's now thought they are used to attract females, although this theory hasn't been proven.

Members of the Babyrousa genus live in swamps in rainforests on the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Buru, and the Togian and Sula archipelagos — and are found nowhere else in the world. They're around 2 feet (60 centimeters) tall, 3 feet (90 cm) long and can weigh more than 200 pounds (90 kilograms).

Related: Canadian 'super pigs' are likely to invade northern US, study warns

They are among the oldest living members of the pig family. Until 2002, all babirusas were thought to belong to a single species. There are now three known living species of babirusa. The North Sulawesi babirusa (Babyrousa celebensis) is a brown-gray color and lives on Sulawesi. The Buru babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa) is covered in thick, golden hair and is native to the islands of Buru and the Sula Islands of Mangole and Taliabu. The hairless Togian babirusa (Babyrousa togeanensis) is only found on the Togian islands.

A fourth smaller species called the Bola Batu babirusa (Babyrousa bolabatuensis) was identified by fossils on Sulawesi in the 1950s, but it is believed to be extinct.

Babirusas also have intricate, two-chambered stomachs, which are more like the digestive systems of sheep than those of their fellow pigs. They tend to use their hooves to dig for food but can also stand on their two hind legs to reach fruit and leaves on trees. Unlike other members of the pig family, babirusas don't have a thick rostral bone in their snouts, meaning their snouts are too weak to root in hard ground.

Babirusas are believed to have diverged from their pig ancestors between 26 million and 12 million years ago, potentially because they became isolated on Sulawesi when sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age.

Name: Greater short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi)

Where they live: North and Central America

What they eat: Ants, spiders and other small insects

Why they're awesome: Greater short-horned lizards have a squat, flat shape and short snouts, which makes them look more like amphibians than reptiles — hence the nickname "horny toads." But these lizards are most famous for their unusual defense mechanism: When threatened, they squirt a stream of blood from their eyes up to a distance of 5 feet (1.5 meters).

They do this by restricting the blood flow leaving their heads, which increases blood pressure and causes tiny blood vessels to burst around the eyes. They shoot the blood at predators to cause confusion, giving them a chance to escape.

Around eight species of horned lizards are thought to use this grisly trick, known as autohaemorrhaging.

Greater short-horned lizards, which grow to around 6 inches (15 centimeters) long, may release a third of theirits total blood supply this way.

While it doesn't appear to deter birds, the blood does affect canines like dogs (Canis familiaris), coyotes (Canis latrans) and foxes (Vulpes), which shake their heads to get rid of it. The lizards seem to recognize this and are more likely to use it on dogs than on other predators.

The blood is laced with toxic chemicals, which may come from the venomous harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex) that the lizards eat. Although their blood isn’t poisonous, it tastes unpleasant to predators. Short-horned lizards aren't affected by the venom of the harvester ants they feed on because a chemical in their blood plasma neutralizes it. They also produce large amounts of mucus to immobilize the insects, enabling the lizards to swallow them without getting hurt by the venom.

But blood squirting isn't short-horned lizards' only defense. They have mottled skin and flat bodies, making them very well-camouflaged. Their bodies are covered in sharp spines, including two large head spikes. If a predator attempts to bite them, the feisty lizards bow their head, exposing the horns to the predator's mouth.

The lizards can also inflate themselves to twice their normal size when attacked. Not only does this make them look more intimidating, it can cause predators trying to swallow them to choke.

Name: Alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula)

Where it lives: Rivers, reservoirs and coastal bays in southwestern U.S. states, down to Veracruz, Mexico

What it eats: Crabs, fish, birds, mammals, turtles, and carrion

Why it's awesome: With their long snout, thick armored scales, and two rows of piercing teeth, these huge fish could easily be mistaken for a ferocious gator — hence their common name: alligator gar.

They are the largest known species of gar and can grow to around 8 feet (2.4 meters).

Related: 'True rarity': Gigantic alligator gar caught and released in Texas reservoir could break 2 world records

This enormous fish is "a truly prehistoric monster," said biologist Jeremy Wade on "River Monsters." Fossils have shown that these ancient animals existed 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago), when dinosaurs roamed Earth.

"Their survival is in part because of their unique defense system — scales made of a super hard enamel called ganoine," said Wade. "This armor plating has seen them survive predatory dinosaurs." These hard, interlocking flexible scales protect them from threats. Once gars are more than a meter long, their only predator is the alligator.

And alligator gars grow fast. They start as tiny toxic eggs but reach up to 2 feet (0.6 m) long in their first year. They keep growing their entire lives, and can live to 100 years old, Solomon David, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Minnesota, previously told Live Science.

Alligator gars are also among the ultimate "living fossils" — species that have barely changed for millions of years. A 2024 study found gars have the slowest rates of evolution of all jawed vertebrates. They have evolved so slowly that alligator gars and longnose gars (Lepisosteus osseus) — two species separated by 100 million years of evolution — can still produce fertile hybrid offspring. Evolution across such a long period of time typically produces wildly divergent species that could never reproduce.

By contrast, that's about the same amount of evolutionary time that separates wombats and people, two wildly different species that could never reproduce, study author Chase Brownstein, a first year graduate student at Yale, previously told Live Science.

Although their needle-sharp teeth are capable of causing a nasty bite, these ambush predators prefer eating crabs, fish, and birds. Yet, in the 1930s, the Texas Game Fish Commission created a "gar destroyer" to try to electrocute the fish by shooting 200-volts into the water. Today, the fish is protected in Florida and fishing caps are in place in Texas.

Name: Siphonophores (Siphonophora)

Where they live: All oceans

What they eat: Small crustaceans, copepods and fish

Why they're awesome: The largest animal on Earth is thought to be the blue whale, but these strange sea creatures can grow even longer — reaching up to 150 feet (46 meters) in length.

There are around 175 species of siphonophores living in the deep sea throughout all of Earth’s oceans, although not every species is found in each ocean. Many siphonophores are long and string-like, but some, like the venomous Portuguese man o'war (Physalia physalis), resemble jellyfish.

Although a siphonophore may look like a single animal, it is actually a colony made up of individual organisms called "zooids," which each have a distinct function within the colony despite being genetically identical. Some catch prey and digest food, while others enable the colony to reproduce or swim. An individual zooid cannot survive on its own because they specialize in one function, so they rely on each other to form a "body."

A siphonophore develops from a single zoid that hatches from a fertilized egg. This first zooid develops growth zones, from which new zooids sprout — the siphonophore replicates itself asexually to create more and more zooids.

Siphonophores feed on a variety of small sea animals, including plankton, fish and small crustaceans. The species that use toxins to capture prey have zooids that contain tiny but deadly tentacles containing an incapacitating toxin. To hunt, they cast their net of tentacles to sting prey and immobilize it, before pulling the food into their mouths.

One example of siphonophore feeding was captured by marine biologists in western Australia in 2020. They discovered a 150-foot giant siphonophore (Praya dubia) in a "doom spiral," which traps unsuspecting prey.

Many siphonophores are also bioluminescent and generate light via a chemical reaction to attract prey. Although most species glow green or blue, one species of siphonophore belonging to the genus Erenna was the first marine invertebrate found to emit a red glow. Red bioluminescence is very rare because the short wavelengths of blue and green light travel longer distances in the sea — and are more evolutionarily helpful to marine animals.

According to a 2005 study published in Science journal by marine biologist Steven Haddock of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, this red light may help to attract fish because they mistake it for the red glow that comes from algae in the stomachs of prey like copepods.

Siphonophores are often hunted sea turtles or large fish. However, some species can use their stinging tentacles to defend themselves against these predators. These creatures are also hunted by tiny, translucent crustaceans called phronima, or pram bugs, which chew their way into siphonophores to live inside them, often killing them in the process.

Name: Antechinus (Antechinus)

Where it lives: Australia

What it eats: Insects, spiders, centipedes and sometimes frogs and small reptiles

Why it's awesome: Antechinuses are little marsupials about the size of gerbils with a bizarre reproductive system: the males have sex until they die from organ failure.

There are 15 species of Antechinus all with the same deadly mating system. Their breeding season is a frenzied period lasting just two to three weeks. During this time, males give up sleep to have as much sex as possible, going for up to 14 hours at a time in the hope of passing on their genes. Once the breeding season ends, all the males drop dead.

Males die as a result of stress and exhaustion. During the mating window, testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol surge in their bodies. The increase in testosterone prevents them from processing the cortisol, causing organ failure and death.

Some male antechinuses survive, but this is very rare. "Males stop making sperm before the mating season and their testes disintegrate, so they are not even using energy on that during the mating period," Diana Fisher, a mammal ecologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, said in a statement in 2013. "But they can never reproduce again even if they do live."

During the mating season, sperm is stored in the epididymis and is constantly lost in urine, so they have a very brief window to mate before infertility and death.

The antechinus mass mortality event provides an opportunity — fresh food for the pregnant females and any males that manage to survive the sexfest. Females take the opportunity to cannibalize their own males.

Related: These female frogs fake their own deaths to get out of sex

In areas where different species of Antechinus overlap, females may also feast on males from other species. "Each species may benefit from eating dead males of the other," Andrew Baker, an ecologist at the Queensland University of Technology, said in a statement in 2024.

Males from one Antechinus species may feed on those from another if the timing of their breeding seasons allows it. "For the later-breeding species, both sexes may take the opportunity to cannibalize dead males of the earlier-breeding species, to help stack on weight and condition before their own breeding period commences," Baker said, adding that in one case, a male — potentially in the middle of his own mating season — was seen feeding on a "dead comrade" had hair loss indicating stress-induced changes. "He was perhaps destined soon to become somebody else’s meal," Baker said.

Gestation in females lasts between 25 and 35 days, after which the undeveloped young move to a pouch on their mother's abdomen to grow for another 50 days. Once the young are independent at about three months, the cycle starts again, with antechinuses reaching sexual maturity at around eight months.

Name: Angular roughshark (Oxynotus centrina)

Where it lives: In the eastern Atlantic ocean from Norway to South Africa, and the Mediterranean sea

What it eats: Fish, crustaceans, molluscs, marine worms and shark eggs

Why it's awesome: When we think of sharks, we tend to imagine large, muscular predators like great whites or hammerheads. But for the pig-like angular roughshark, this is not the case. These bizarre sharks have flat heads, wide-set eyes and pink snouts.

"It is commonly called a 'pig fish' because when it comes out of the water it emits a kind of grunt," Yuri Tiberto of the Elba Aquarium in Italy, told Toscana Media News in 2021, after a dead individual was pulled from the water in Elba, an Italian island near Tuscany, and posted to Facebook by the tourism website Isola d'Elba App.

Angular roughsharks generally grow around 3.3 feet (1 meters) long and have thick, gray-brown bodies with two large dorsal fins that resemble sails. They have a triangular profile from the front.

Like all sharks, their skin is covered in dermal denticles — flat, V-shaped tooth-like structures that consist of pulp, dentine and enamel.

While all sharks have denticles, roughshark denticles are particularly large and pronounced, giving them a fuzzy appearance. Scientists don't know exactly why this is, but it may be to help protect the animal from larger predators.

Combined with its furry-looking face, the angular roughshark also has a short, blunt snout with massive nostrils, adding to their pig-like appearance.

These strange features relate to their lifestyles; they spend most of their time swimming just above the seafloor looking for food. They tend to move slowly, vacuuming up their prey.

They have one set of sharp, blade-like lower teeth to slice through flesh, as well as conical upper teeth which help to spear slippery prey.

Recent research suggests angular roughsharks also feed on the eggs of other sharks. As well as discovering shark embryos in the stomachs of wild roughsharks, in 2015 scientists reported a captive angular roughshark that fed exclusively on the eggs of elasmobranches.

Although these sharks have little commercial value, their large dorsal fins and spines make them susceptible to being caught in nets as bycatch by fishers .They are also listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

Name: Giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne)

Where it lives: In the mesopelagic zone of the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

What it eats: Krill, plankton, crustaceans and squid

Why it's awesome: According to Japanese myth, oarfish are harbingers of earthquakes, and their appearance signals a tremor could be about to hit.

In traditional Japanese legend, oarfish were known as "ryugu no tsukai" meaning "the messenger from the sea dragon god's palace." People believed oarfish would come up from the deep to warn people when an earthquake was imminent. This myth caused a stir in 2011 when 20 oarfish washed ashore in the months before Japan was struck by the country's most powerful earthquake.

While there is no evidence to back up the link between oarfish sightings and earthquakes, in August 2024 snorkelers found an oarfish in California — two days before an earthquake hit the region. However, scientists believe this was a coincidence.

Related: New piranha-like fish with 'human teeth' and Eye of Sauron marking found deep within the Amazon

Also known as the king of herrings or ribbonfish, the oarfish is the world's longest bony fish. The species' elongated body is usually around 10 feet (3 meters) long, but individuals can grow to 36 feet (11m) — around twice as long as a giraffe is tall.

"The striking nature of this long, sinewy fish is what many people say gave rise to the original notion of sea serpents," Russ Vetter, a biologist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Southwest Fisheries Science Center, said on the podcast On The Line. "From beginning to end, this has all the qualities you would want in a sea serpent."

Oarfish don't have any visible teeth and instead filter water to eat tiny prey. "You could put your hand into the mouth, around the mouth, down the throat and not even scratch your skin," Vetter said.

These unusual creatures live in the mesopelagic zone of the deep sea where there is no light — one reason we know so little about them and why sightings are so rare. They usually live around 650 feet (200 m) below the surface but can be found as deep as 3,300 feet (1,000 m).

Like other animals in this zone, oarfish swim to the surface at night to find food before returning to the safety of the deep during the daytime. In the rare instances that oarfish are seen in shallow waters, they are usually sick, dying or were caught in strong currents.

Name: Thorny devil (Moloch horridus)

Where it lives: Australia

What it eats: Ants

Why it's awesome: Thorny devils are native to Australia and live in the country's arid scrubland and interior desert. These small lizards grow to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long and have evolved an impressive set of defenses, including an appendage on the back of the necks that acts as a "'false head."

When threatened, the lizards tuck their real head down between their front legs, leaving the fake head exposed while protecting the real head.

These lizards' defenses don't stop there. Their bodies are covered in spikes, which are the size of rose thorns and are thought to deter predators by making the lizards difficult to capture, bite and swallow.

Thorny devils can also inflate their chests to make themselves look larger when faced with a threat. When they're out in the open — either looking for food or mates — they also have a slow and jerky walk, which is thought to confuse predators. This is because moving slowly and intermittently may help the lizards from activating a predator’s chase-and-attack response, which can happen when they spot quick-fleeing prey.

Devils are well-adapted to their hot, harsh environment. In extreme temperatures, they bury themselves in sand to protect themselves from the sun. They then use channels on their skin, located between their scales, to draw moisture from damp sand and transport it to their mouths like a straw.

They can also change color to help them regulate their body temperature and metabolism. In the cooler mornings, the lizards are a drab brown, becoming a lighter yellow as the temperature rises and they become more active. The lighter coloring likely helps reflect the sun and prevents them from overheating. However, they can also change color quickly in order to camouflage themselves.

Thorny devils are named after a human sacrifice god. Their scientific name, Moloch horridus, was inspired by John Milton's poem "Paradise Lost," which references the Canaanite god Moloch — a bloodthirsty figure that requires child sacrifices. The Latin word horridus means rough, dreadful, wild or frightful. According to research, a thorny devil was first exhibited in London by naturalist and businessman John Gould in 1840, but it was given its scientific name by zoologist John Gray in 1841, who allegedly had Milton’s epic poem in mind at the time.

In reality, though, thorny devils are harmless — unless you're a predator or an ant. They can consume thousands of the insects a day, using their sticky tongues and hard teeth to capture ants.

Name: Salps (Salpa fusiformis)

Where it lives: Widespread throughout the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

What it eats: Phytoplankton and anything else small enough to get caught in their feeding net

Why it's awesome: Often described as "jelly balls" or "buckets of snot," these marine organisms are transparent and have a gelatinous texture.

There are more than 70 species of salps worldwide, with Salpa fusiformis being the most common. Salps can be found from the ocean surface down to around 2,600 feet (800 meters) deep. They are barrel shaped, ranging from 0.08 inches (0.2 centimeters) at birth to about 4 inches (10 cm) in adulthood. They can join together in long chains that drift in the sea, following the tides.

Related: Barreleye fish — The deep-sea weirdo with rotating eyes and a see-through head

Salps can also propel themselves via jet propulsion. They pump seawater through their bodies with bands of muscles that surround their bodies. As the water is pushed through their bodies and out of their rear, food is collected and they are propelled forwards. Because of this, they are members of a group known as "sea squirts."

Unlike jellyfish, salps do not have stinging cells. Their main food is phytoplankton, but they filter everything they can catch in their feeding web, which are internal nets of sticky mucus.

Because they filter large volumes of water, they play a crucial role in fighting climate change (CO2), with a swarm of salps spread over 38,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometers) able to capture up to 4,000 tons of CO2 in a single night.

Adult salps undergo two distinct phases: an asexual oozoid phase and a sexual blastozooid phase. When the asexual oozoid is ready to reproduce, it generates long chains of salps, each a clone of itself. These salps then develop into sexually reproducing blastozooids. Initially, the entire chain consists of females, each producing eggs that are fertilized by nearby male blastozooids. The eggs develop internally, and the salps give birth to live young, which swim off to mature into asexual oozoid adults. Eventually, the entire chain transitions to males, releasing sperm to fertilize the eggs of neighboring female blastozooids.

These weird little balls of jelly have incredibly fast life cycles, reaching maturity in just 48 hours. They are believed to be the fastest-growing multicellular animal on Earth, increasing their body length by up to 10% per hour.

Name: Silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus)

Where it lives: From southern Mexico to South America (Peru, Bolivia and Brazil)

What it eats: Ants, wasps, wasp pupae, termites and small beetles

Why it's awesome: At only around 14 ounces (400 grams) and 14 to 18 inches (35 to 45 centimeters) long (including its tail), the silky anteater is the world's smallest anteater. This solitary animal has dense, soft fur. But although it may look cute and fluffy, make no mistake: This creature will put up a fight when it's threatened.

When a silky anteater encounters a threat, it uses its tail as an anchor, stands on its hind legs, and strikes using its large, curved claws. Itsr tail is longer than its body and prehensile, meaning it can hold onto things.

And the silky anteater, also called the pygmy anteater, has another trick to defend itself: When it detects a predator, such as a harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) or a spectacled owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata), it curls into a ball to resemble the seed pods found in silk-cotton trees to avoid being seen.

Silky anteaters are arboreal, meaning they live in the treetops of lowland rainforests and rarely descend to the ground. Their feet are modified to climb and have long claws to grip tree trunks and branches.

Biologists used to think all silkies were a single species. But in 2018, a taxonomic review — which examined the DNA, color patterns and bone structures of 287 live and museum specimens — revealed that there may be more than seven species of this tiny animal.

As their name suggests, they primarily eat ants — and they consume up to 5,000 of these insects a day. Their long claws help them rip open ant nests. They use their sensitive pink-tipped nose to sniff out food and their sticky, long tongue to trap ants and other small insects.

Like all anteaters, the silky lacks teeth. Scientists think that over millions of years, anteaters lost the genes to make tooth enamel because they ate soft insects that didn't require strong teeth, according to a 2023 study.