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Banded mongoose

Black mamba, blue-ringed octopus, boa constrictor, blobfish... 25 animals starting with 'B', including some of the world's deadliest and weirdest...

From baboon to box jellyfish, here are 25 animals beginning with the letter B
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Flower crab spider hunts bee

It looks like a crab, runs sideways, can change colour, and lurks in meadows, waiting for unsuspecting prey to wander by

Meet the flower crab spider – the nemesis of meadow-loving insects.
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Slow worm

This slithering, fork-tongued creature may look like a snake – but it does something no snake can do

It's mating season for this legless lizard, making it easier to spot – here's how to be sure it's not a snake you're seeing.
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Photograph showing the dorsal view of a brown and cream colored, female Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni) an agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) clinging to the tip of a green plant, image courtesy CDC/Dr Christopher Paddock, 2008. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

"The longer it stays latched onto your skin, the more toxin it pumps in until your legs start to give way and your face and breathing muscles begin to freeze..."

It’s not much bigger than a sesame seed but its toxin will leave you unable to walk
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Members of the public inspect The Strid, a section of the River Wharfe which passes through a narrow gorge, near the village of Bolton Abbey, near Skipton in northern England on October 10, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

It might only be two metres wide, but don't be deceived as this feisty stream is highly treacherous and has a 100% fatality rate...

It's buried under 4,000 metres of ice yet doesn't freeze even though a chilly -3 °C – Discover the 15 million year-old lake that's the weirdest on the planet...

Buried beneath nearly two miles of Antarctic ice, Lake Vostok is one of the most isolated places on Earth – a hidden, ancient world that could reshape what scientists know about life in extreme environments
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A giOverhead view of a giant glacier on the Antarctic ice shelf

At a staggering 3500m below sea level, this frozen abyss is the deepest, darkest and least explored place on land...

Delve into the deepest, darkest place on continental Earth
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Underwater macro portrait of a Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) in Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia.

"It delivers a fatal stab with a barbed tip that impales the prey ready to be dismembered..." The world's fastest, deadliest punch

“This huge ‘cloud’ seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly frogs started to fall from the sky. I thought a plane carrying frogs had exploded..."

Just how long do glaciers take to give up their dead? Inside the chilling journey...

How long does it take for a glacier to  transport a body from the depths of a crevasse to the surface if you fall in? We take a look...
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Birds

How to identify wildlife

Red squirrel vs grey squirrel: Think you know how they differ? Think again as the differences between these two squirrels will surprise you

We take a look at how the red squirrel differs to its American grey cousin
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Brown rat. © Mike Lane/Getty

Brown rat or water vole: How to tell the difference between these two lookalike-rodents

When all you've seen is a flash of brown fur, it can be hard to know whether it was a water vole or rat. Though the two species tend to live in different habitats, there are areas where they overlap, potentially leading to cases of mistaken identity. So how do you tell rats and water voles apart?
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Eurasian otter. © Ed Evans/Getty

Mink or otter? What's the difference between these two slippery, semiaquatic lookalikes?

How do you tell the difference between otters and mink?
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A peregrine falcon with a dead partridge. © Alan Tunnicliffe Photography/Getty

It's the fastest animal in the world and its deadly claws can catch prey mid-air: Meet one of the world's most incredible birds of prey

Peregrines are the ultimate urban predator. Learn all about them, including how to spot them ‘stooping’ to catch prey
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Save 30% when you subscribe to BBC Wildlife Magazine, plus receive Simon Barnes’ latest release, Spring is the Only Season

Save 30% when you subscribe to BBC Wildlife Magazine, plus receive Simon Barnes’ latest release, Spring is the Only Season
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Plants

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