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"Come sundown it slips into a crevice and secretes a bubble of mucus that swells up and over its head like a diving helmet..."
The queen parrotfish Scarus vetula is by day a beautiful and diver-friendly reef fish. By night, it’s a reclusive slime-bag. Literally. Here's why...
"It looks like a porcupine, but has a bird-like beak, a pouch like a kangaroo and lays eggs like a reptile." 10 weirdest, bizarrest mammals on the planet
From egg-laying echidnas to star-nosed moles, the animal kingdom is full of bizarre and fascinating mammals you may not believe exist
How on Earth do sea turtles find their way back to where they hatched?
Female turtles return to the beach where they originally hatched to lay their eggs, but how do they know where it is?
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Do animals play pranks on each other?
Are we only animals on the planet that like to play a prank?
"It's highly territorial and if one of their 192 tentacles come into contact with neighbouring individuals they become extremely hostile"
Discover seven fascinating facts about the beadlet anemone in our expert guide by Buglife.
Scientists looked inside a bee hive. What they saw is remarkable
Researchers wanted to learn more about the insect's famous 'waggle dance'. Here's what they found.
"There wasn't a curve in sight." Straight bananas found growing on remote Caribbean island
Is it the end of the bendy banana?
It weighed less than 1kg yet remarkably could reach terrifying speeds of 65km/h: Meet 10 fastest, speediest dinosaurs on the planet
Not all dinosaurs were lumbering giants, some were streamlined speedsters that would have given today’s fastest animals a run for their money…
It’s made up of 1,000 miles of tunnels and was once thought to be the gateway to the underworld – but remains largely unexplored
In Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, hundreds of uncharted caves sprawl underneath the ground
“It produces a boiling-hot, caustic chemical that sprays with an audible pop.” The 10 weirdest animal weapons in the world
Some animals have claws, some have antlers and some razor-sharp teeth. But a few weapons are decidedly weirder than others…
A zookeeper went to a former penal colony in Australia only to find it overrun with adorable wombats
A convict settlement in a past life, Maria Island is now a sanctuary for endangered species. Ross Gurden heads there in search of wombats
Are these the saddest animals on the planet? Meet the 10 loneliest animals on Earth
Learn about the animals that were the very last of their kind
Breathtaking footage shows diver's close encounter with the world's biggest octopus
The giant Pacific octopus is so enormous its arms could wrap around a small car.
“Staring menacingly, the buffaloes encircled our vehicle.” My close encounter with a mega-stampede
In a quiet corner of Africa a dramatic and dusty spectacle unfolds with the arrival of megaherds of buffaloes
Great crested grebe seen drowning and eating chiffchaffs in Spain
Birdwatcher and photographer Juan Montiel captured the unusual grebe behaviour on camera.
From anal ventilators to boiling, toxic fart machines: 10 weirdest and deadliest bottoms on the planet
From explosive sea cucumbers to beetles that spray boiling toxic fluid from their bums, the world of wildlife is full of unexpected adaptations. These butts aren't just weird – they're life-saving
“Effects range from internal bleeding to manipulating behaviour or liquifying a host.” These are the deadliest weapons in the animal kingdom
Powerful punches. Flesh-tearing teeth. Deadly talons. We explore the best (or is it the worst?) weapons in the natural world.
A fiery belly, jagged crest and long, broad tail – this may be the closest thing to a real-life dragon
Male great crested newts are at their most dragonesque in spring.
“Here, ‘weirdness’ abounds. One creature seemingly has the beak of a duck, the body of an otter and the tail of a beaver.”
Why does Australia have so many weird species that go against evolutionary norms? Helen Pilcher takes a look
It’s not a pig and it’s not from Guinea – and it’s bolder, riskier and more sociable than your childhood pet
Guinea pigs do exist in the wild – but they're not like the ones you might have looked after at home...
"It doesn’t have much to smile about with fewer than ten remaining." 10 of the world’s rarest whales and dolphins teetering on the brink of extinction
We take a look at the cetaceans on the brink of extinction
It's as big as a Ford Fiesta, as heavy as a polar bear and can contain more than 200 ‘apartments'
Their nests are not only as large as a car, but often built in the weirdest of places...
“The first thing to go are the eyes. Eyes, apparently, cook very quickly. Flesh follows soon after, and as the animal becomes overwhelmed, water enters its mouth."
Deep in the Peru Amazon lies one of the world’s most mysterious natural wonders — a river that quite literally boils.
Under cover of darkness, a huge animal lumbers up a rocky track before descending into a cave and navigating 150 metres of pitch black to reach its prize
When not comes to finding the essential salt they need Savannah elephants have to go on a dangerous journey
