The Vinegaroon Sprays Acid to Foil Its Foes
The vinegaroon – also known as a whip scorpion – looks like a Frankenstein creation of monster body parts. But unlike true scorpions, it doesn’t use venom to defend itself from predators. Instead, it...
View ArticleHoneypot Ants Turn Their Biggest Sisters into Jugs of Nectar
Deep in their underground nests, honeypot ants stuff members of their own colony until they look like golden water balloons. Drop by drop, worker ants deliver nectar and other liquid food into their...
View ArticleBarnacles Go To Unbelievable Lengths To Hook Up
Acorn barnacles might look like jagged little rocks at low tide, but they have a surprisingly wild sex life. These crusty little animals — related to crabs and shrimp — have the longest penis of any...
View ArticleThis Freaky Fruit Fly Lays Eggs in Your Strawberries
The spotted wing drosophila may look like a common fruit fly, but it’s so much worse. Just as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are ripening in the field, this fly saws into them...
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Don’t Go Chasing Water Bugs
This summer, as you cool your bare feet in a stream somewhere in California — or almost anywhere in the world, really — you might feel a painful nip. The menacing culprit: a giant water bug. Lurking...
View ArticleCarpenter Bees Stab Flowers to Steal Their Nectar
With their short tongues, Valley carpenter bees can’t easily drink the nectar from tubular flowers. So they use powerful mandibles to slice into the blooms and steal it. It’s called nectar robbing,...
View ArticleBarn Owl Table Manners are Just … Different
Scarfing down their food whole keeps barn owls moving. After all, these hungry birds gotta eat and there are lots of little rodents to hunt. Barn owls need a hole to nest in, and when a tree isn’t...
View ArticleBackswimmer Insects Drag Prey Into the Upside Down
They look like little rowboats, cruising belly up below the surface of a pond or gentle stream. But don’t be fooled. Backswimmers are voracious predators, and when it’s time to find a new home they...
View ArticleFire Ants Turn Into a Stinging Life Raft to Survive Floods
During hurricane season, as floodwater flows into their nest, red fire ants build a terrifying raft – out of their own interlocking bodies. If you wade into this ant raft nightmare, you’ll likely get a...
View ArticleThis Nasty Parasite Is Ruining Monarch Butterfly Wings
Monarchs are locked in a battle with Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE), a parasite that can trap a butterfly in its own chrysalis and deform its beautiful wings. Turns out there is a right way, and a...
View ArticleYellowjackets Roll Tiny Meatballs For The Babies
Why is that yellowjacket crashing your BBQ? Well, she wants what you’re having: burgers, hot dogs, fish and turkey. But she doesn’t eat them herself. Her nest’s larvae need that protein to develop. So...
View ArticleHow Hoverflies Spawn Maggots that Sweeten Your Oranges
Oblique streaktail hoverflies zip from bloom to bloom wearing a wasp costume to avoid getting eaten. But it’s all show – they don’t even have stingers! Their fierce maggots, on the other hand, devour...
View ArticleCitrus Psyllids Bribe Ants with Strings of Candy Poop
Asian citrus psyllids transmit a disease that can ruin your oranges. Even worse, Argentine ants protect them in exchange for the psyllids’ delicate ribbons of sugary poop, called honeydew. So,...
View ArticleHow Hagfish Unleash a Torrent of Slime
What keeps the boneless, jawless hagfish thriving after more than 300 million years? SLIME. The goop it exudes – a mix of mucus and special protein cells – expands to 10,000 times its original volume...
View ArticleEarthworm Love is Cuddly … and Complicated
Earthworms know a thing or two about romance. They cozy up with a mate inside tubes of slime, then follow a series of intricate steps to make cocoons full of baby worms. TRANSCRIPT Earthworm love....
View ArticleHow Does the Mussel Grow its Beard?
Mussels create byssal threads, known as the mussel’s “beard,” to attach themselves to rocks and each other. They use their sensitive foot to mold the threads from scratch and apply a waterproof...
View ArticleToad Tongues Slay With Seriously Sticky Spit
How are frogs and toads so amazing at catching bugs? They smack ’em with a supersoft tongue covered in special spit, which flows into every nook and cranny of their target. Then, in less than a...
View ArticleThis Mushroom Can Fly
Bird’s nest fungi look just like a tiny bird’s nest. But those little eggs have no yolks. Each one is a spore sac waiting for a single raindrop to catapult it on a journey with a layover inside the...
View ArticleWhy Do Snakes Have Forked Tongues?
To us, a snake’s forked tongue evokes danger and deceit. But the tongue’s two sensitive tips, called tines, actually help the snake smell in stereo. That’s bad news if you’re a mouse … TRANSCRIPT It’s...
View ArticleGecko Grip: It’s Atomic (Really)
No suction cups, no Velcro, no glue. Geckos navigate nearly any surface with something far cooler: an electron dance at the atomic scale. TRANSCRIPT You know you’ve dreamed of it – scaling walls with...
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