Tag archives for Weird & Wild
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Talk about a bottom feeder—the giant California sea cucumber uses its butt as a second mouth, a new study says.
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A type of burrowing worm that lived 508 million years ago has solved an evolutionary puzzle, a new study says.
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Lemon sharks have social networks, despite the lack of Facebook and Twitter—and learn from their interactions, according to recent research.
Bat experts weigh in on first ever footage of vampire bats feeding on baby penguins.
Carnivorous plants have a newly discovered trick in their arsenal—they glow blue to attract insects, a new study says.
There’s no place like home—and now scientists have figured out how salmon get there.
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Talk about shocking results: Lightning may contribute to the onset of headaches and migraines, a new study suggests.
In his new book, The Origin of Feces, David Waltner Toews does the dirty work of showing that poop is part of our daily lives—from food to health to sustainability.
Scientists have figured out how owls accomplish their Exorcist-style head turning.
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A Brazilian family recently found their long-lost pet tortoise in a box after 30 years. Find out how the reptile made it through the ordeal.
Talk about star power—a new study shows that dung beetles navigate via the Milky Way, a first in the animal kingdom.
Talk about a web of deceit—biologist Phil Torres has found a spider that weaves a bigger decoy “spider” to scare predators.
After a 15-inch-long goldfish was captured recently in Michigan, we wondered: What exactly is a goldfish, and how can they get so freakishly big?
Flesh-eating beetles, called dermestids, are nature’s forensic scientists. These creepy crawlies will eat the flesh off carcasses in a process called skeletonization.
From a genitalia-headed fish to a two-faced cat—it’s been a weird and wild year at National Geographic. Check out our editor’s picks of the oddest stories of 2012.
This holiday season, learn about a nutcracker of another sort—the bearded capuchin of Brazil.
When a caterpillar munches on a plant, its ‘call for help’ actually brings more guests to the table than expected, a new study says.
Would you eat sand, chalk, coffee grounds, or chicken poop? Some people do, and it’s called pica—the craving and purposive consumption of non-food substances.
If it looks like a male lion and is perceived as a male lion—well, sometimes it isn’t. That’s the case of Africa’s unusual maned lionesses, which sport a male’s luxurious locks and may even fool competitors.
Come along on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian’s orchid collection, which includes the odd-looking spider orchid and mysterious butterfly orchid.
Among the invertebrate treasures at the National Museum of Natural History are a giant isopod and a giant squid eyeball.
Train the Chesapeake Bay retriever has a dirty job—finding the poop that Argentina’s forest carnivores have left behind.
Posted by It is without doubt one of the strangest things I have ever seen in my life, says zoologist Lucy Cooke. She’s describing her first sighting of the bizarre four-headed penis of the echidna, a spiny, termite-eating, egg-laying mammal found in Australia.
Red lobsters may seem the norm, but the crustaceans can also come in blue, yellow, calico, and albino.
In one of the most extreme places on Earth, you’re guaranteed to get some extreme life-forms—and Antarctica delivers.
