Honeypot Ants Turn Their Biggest Sisters into Jugs of Nectar
Deep in their underground nests, honeypot ants stuff members of their own colony until they look like golden water balloons. Drop by drop, worker ants deliver nectar and other liquid food into their...
View ArticleBarnacles Go To Unbelievable Lengths To Hook Up
Acorn barnacles might look like jagged little rocks at low tide, but they have a surprisingly wild sex life. These crusty little animals — related to crabs and shrimp — have the longest penis of any...
View ArticleSilkworms Spin Cocoons That Spell Their Own Doom
Those precious silk garments in your closet were made by the caterpillar of a fuzzy, white moth — thousands of them. Silkworms spin a cocoon with a single strand of silk up to 10 city blocks long....
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Don’t Go Chasing Water Bugs
This summer, as you cool your bare feet in a stream somewhere in California — or almost anywhere in the world, really — you might feel a painful nip. The menacing culprit: a giant water bug. Lurking...
View ArticleBarn Owl Table Manners are Just … Different
Scarfing down their food whole keeps barn owls moving. After all, these hungry birds gotta eat and there are lots of little rodents to hunt. Barn owls need a hole to nest in, and when a tree isn’t...
View ArticleBackswimmer Insects Drag Prey Into the Upside Down
They look like little rowboats, cruising belly up below the surface of a pond or gentle stream. But don’t be fooled. Backswimmers are voracious predators, and when it’s time to find a new home they...
View ArticleFire Ants Turn Into a Stinging Life Raft to Survive Floods
During hurricane season, as floodwater flows into their nest, red fire ants build a terrifying raft – out of their own interlocking bodies. If you wade into this ant raft nightmare, you’ll likely get a...
View ArticleThis Nasty Parasite Is Ruining Monarch Butterfly Wings
Monarchs are locked in a battle with Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE), a parasite that can trap a butterfly in its own chrysalis and deform its beautiful wings. Turns out there is a right way, and a...
View ArticleZombie Flies, Flesh-Eating Beetles and Malodorous Mushrooms: 5 Halloween...
If videos of the creepiest creatures and fungi aren’t on your YouTube Halloween watchlist, then you’re missing out. KQED’s award-winning wildlife series Deep Look gives viewers an up-close look at the...
View ArticleHow Hoverflies Spawn Maggots that Sweeten Your Oranges
Oblique streaktail hoverflies zip from bloom to bloom wearing a wasp costume to avoid getting eaten. But it’s all show – they don’t even have stingers! Their fierce maggots, on the other hand, devour...
View ArticleCitrus Psyllids Bribe Ants with Strings of Candy Poop
Asian citrus psyllids transmit a disease that can ruin your oranges. Even worse, Argentine ants protect them in exchange for the psyllids’ delicate ribbons of sugary poop, called honeydew. So,...
View ArticleEarthworm Love is Cuddly … and Complicated
Earthworms know a thing or two about romance. They cozy up with a mate inside tubes of slime, then follow a series of intricate steps to make cocoons full of baby worms. TRANSCRIPT Earthworm love....
View ArticleHow Does the Mussel Grow its Beard?
Mussels create byssal threads, known as the mussel’s “beard,” to attach themselves to rocks and each other. They use their sensitive foot to mold the threads from scratch and apply a waterproof...
View ArticleToad Tongues Slay With Seriously Sticky Spit
How are frogs and toads so amazing at catching bugs? They smack ’em with a supersoft tongue covered in special spit, which flows into every nook and cranny of their target. Then, in less than a...
View ArticleThis Mushroom Can Fly
Bird’s nest fungi look just like a tiny bird’s nest. But those little eggs have no yolks. Each one is a spore sac waiting for a single raindrop to catapult it on a journey with a layover inside the...
View ArticleWhy Do Snakes Have Forked Tongues?
To us, a snake’s forked tongue evokes danger and deceit. But the tongue’s two sensitive tips, called tines, actually help the snake smell in stereo. That’s bad news if you’re a mouse … TRANSCRIPT It’s...
View ArticleCalifornia Condors Confront Bird Flu in Flight From Extinction
The California condor is facing the deadliest strain of avian influenza in U.S. history, and the outbreak could jeopardize the iconic vulture with its 10-foot wingspan decades after conservationists...
View ArticleGecko Grip: It’s Atomic (Really)
No suction cups, no Velcro, no glue. Geckos navigate nearly any surface with something far cooler: an electron dance at the atomic scale. TRANSCRIPT You know you’ve dreamed of it – scaling walls with...
View ArticleSpringtails Do Their Own Stunts
Step right up to see tiny springtails spin through the air with the greatest of ease! In ponds and streams, they skyrocket out of the reach of hungry insects like water striders by slapping a tail-like...
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Rare Devils Hole Pupfish Offers Inspiring Story of Survival in Death Valley
Have you ever felt stuck in a bad situation that you couldn’t get out of, through no fault of your own, and all you could do is just make the best of it? Such is the life of the Devils Hole pupfish....
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