The platypus looks as if several unrelated animals were combined into one body: dense mammalian fur, a broad sensitive bill, webbed feet, a beaver-like tail, and an egg-laying reproductive system. …
A mantis shrimp does not look like an animal capable of producing one of the fastest strikes in the ocean. Yet some “smasher” species accelerate a hammer-like appendage so rapidly …
Naked mole rats look fragile: wrinkled skin, tiny eyes, prominent teeth, and bodies barely larger than a mouse. Yet beneath that unusual appearance lies one of the most remarkable biological …
On the surface of a North African dune, a small golden skink pauses for an instant. Then it lowers its wedge-shaped head into the loose sand, drives forward, and disappears. …
At midday in the Sahara, sunlight beats down on exposed dunes and surface temperatures can climb toward 60–70°C (140–158°F). During this dangerous period, tiny silver ants emerge from underground and …
High in a tropical tree, several worker ants grip the edges of separate living leaves with their mandibles and pull. When the gap is too wide for a single worker, …
At a scale of only a few millimeters, a male peacock spider approaches a female. He raises his elongated third pair of legs, elevates his brilliantly patterned abdomen, and begins …
In a dry woodland in southeastern Africa, a honey hunter produces a distinctive rolling call. From somewhere among the trees, a greater honeyguide answers. The person calls again, the bird …
Rain has darkened a patch of red Australian desert sand. A thorny devil moves across the wet surface, and liquid touching its body disappears into microscopic spaces associated with its …
A young killer whale travels beside its mother and other experienced members of its social group as they search for prey. When the adults accelerate, dive, circle a school of …