The natural world is full of species that seem almost too strange to be real. From self-cloning animals and waterfall-climbing fish to plants that mimic other plants and bacteria that survive extreme radiation, these remarkable facts showcase some of the most extraordinary life forms ever discovered.
Mystery Porcini Yields New Species
1. Scientists in the UK identified three new mushroom species after purchasing dried porcini from a local grocery store and testing them.
2. Beelzebufo, nicknamed the Frog From Hell, is the largest frog species known to have ever lived, and its diet may have included juvenile dinosaurs.
3. In 2014 in Chile, researchers discovered a new vine species, Boquila trifoliolata, that can mimic the leaves of many different host trees; it can change the size, shape, color, orientation, and even the vein patterns of its leaves to match surrounding foliage, and it is the only known plant that can do this.
4. An Australian lizard species, the yellow-bellied three-toed skink, is abandoning egg-laying in favor of giving live birth.
5. During construction of the Los Angeles Metro Red Line subway, 2,000 fossils were discovered, some as old as 16.5 million years, and these included 39 species of extinct marine fish that had never been discovered before.
6. A recently discovered gecko species, Geckolepis megalepis, has skin that tears away, leaving predators with only a mouthful of scales when they attack.
7. A gannet named Nigel was called “the loneliest bird in the world” because there were no other gannets on his island. Conservationists placed concrete decoys to attract more birds, but Nigel fell in love with one of the fake birds.
8. A self-cloning crayfish species called Marmorkrebs was discovered in the German pet trade in the 1990s. Every individual is female and genetically identical, and there are no known natural populations.
9. The octopus species Graneledone boreopacifica broods her eggs for 53 months, apparently not eating during that time and then dying; this brooding period is the longest known for any animal.
10. The Indian Pipe plant (Monotropa uniflora) is one of the rare plants that lack chlorophyll and therefore does not photosynthesize, obtaining all of its energy from fungi.
Two Noses, One Dog
11. Hidden in the Amazon rainforest is a rare dog breed with two noses. Colonel Percy Fawcett described it after returning from a 1913 expedition to the area and was mocked and ridiculed by his peers.
12. Researchers have documented the cavefish Cryptotora thamicola in Thailand walking and climbing waterfalls in a salamander-like, four-limbed way, a discovery scientists describe as ‘huge’ in evolutionary terms.
13. The Chinese water deer is a species of deer that has fangs instead of antlers.
14. The ant species Solenopsis daguerrei will infiltrate a fire ant colony, kill the queen, and take her place. The colony’s workers rear the impostor’s offspring, which then fly off to infest more colonies. They are being considered as a biological method to control the spread of fire ants.
15. After the last bucardo, a wild goat species, died, scientists created a clone and brought it to life, making the bucardo the first species to become de-extinct. The clone died seven minutes later, also making it the first species to go extinct twice.
16. 28 fossils of the largest extinct snake species were discovered in a coal mine in Columbia. Titanoboa lived about 65 million years ago. The species reached about 48 feet in length and weighed roughly 2,500 lb.
17. A rare African plant indicates the presence of diamonds beneath the soil. The plant Pandanus candelabrum grows only in diamond-rich kimberlite soil.
18. A bird species called the Honeyguide guides humans to beehives so the birds can eat the bee larvae after the humans take the honey.
19. Aye-ayes are found only on the island of Madagascar. These rare animals are related to chimpanzees, apes, and humans.
20. The New Mexico whiptail is a lizard species composed entirely of females. Nicknamed the “Lesbian Lizards”, they still participate in mating rituals in which they mount each other; this stimulates egg production without any gene transfer.
Rare Ant Hides In Manhattan
21. Scientists discovered an ant species found nowhere else on Earth between 63rd and 76th streets in New York City. It has been nicknamed “ManhattAnt.”
22. Welwitschia mirabilis is a rare plant native only to Namibia and Angola. In Angola it is well protected because a high concentration of landmines keeps collectors and poachers away.
23. The fungus Chorioactis geaster occurs only in Texas and in rural Japan and is thought to have been in both places for 19 million years.
24. The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans is so resistant to radiation that scientists have nicknamed it “Conan the Bacterium.”
25. A very rare and special type of gemstone can only be found and formed inside fossils of extinct cephalopod species over hundreds of millions of years. The most expensive opal in the world is an opalized fossil valued at over $1,000,000.
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