Odd events — Page 2

Stories in “Odd events”.

• One name covers a beverage and a dessertBritish syllabub names both a beverage and a pudding made with milk or cream and ingredients such as wine. Ve…
• A hot drink’s name became a cold dessertPosset originally named a hot milk drink mixed with wine or ale. After that form disappeared, the name was re…
• Flummery also became a word for hollow complimentsFlummery names a soft dessert originating in Britain. The word later acquired meanings such as empty complime…
• Fruit and vegetables can share a gelatin moldAmerican jello salad combines flavored gelatin with fruit and sometimes vegetables such as grated carrots. Ot…
• Mock turtle soup imitates another soupEnglish mock turtle soup uses ingredients such as calf’s head to imitate the texture and flavor of turtle sou…
• An antelope rises on its hind legs to browseThe gerenuk stands upright on its hind legs and extends its long neck to reach foliage. It can browse more th…
• The lower teeth deliver more than a biteSolenodons from Caribbean islands are among the unusual venomous mammals. They deliver venom through their lo…
• A nocturnal fruit eater navigates with clicking soundsOilbirds forage for fruit at night and can supplement their vision with echolocation in poor light. Their sha…
• A bird’s outer covering can contain toxic compoundsThe hooded pitohui of New Guinea can contain toxins in its skin and feathers. Researchers think it acquires t…
• The bird drops large bones onto rocksBearded vultures feed heavily on bones and marrow. Bones too large to swallow can be carried into the air and…
• The very heavy insect was not a typical exampleOne captive female giant wētā reached about seventy grams, but she had retained an abnormal number of eggs. L…
• A piranha relative is largely a plant eaterFish known as pacu are related to piranhas but have squarer, straighter teeth and mainly eat plant material.…
• The apparent kiss is a territorial confrontationMale sarcastic fringeheads display their large, brightly colored mouths in territorial encounters. Rivals can…
• The maned wolf helps disperse a plant’s seedsThe South American maned wolf is omnivorous and regularly eats the tomato-like wolf apple. It can pass the se…
• A nearly solid casque is used in male clashesThe helmeted hornbill has a nearly solid casque above its bill, unlike the structure in other hornbills. Male…
• This tree-dwelling monkey also swims across riversBorneo’s proboscis monkey is striking for its nose, but its behavior offers another surprise. It swims across…
• Jerboas do not switch to front-leg walking at slow speedsJerboas have long hind legs and small forelegs. They move almost exclusively on two legs, rather than using t…
• The apparent petals belong to a predatorThe orchid mantis has white or pink coloration and flattened, petal-like limbs. Its resemblance to flowers ca…
• The pupil is neither round nor a simple slitCuttlefish have large W-shaped pupils. Their eyes offer a distinctive detail alongside the better-known chang…
• The snapping jaws can fling the ant backwardOdontomachus ants have large jaws that snap shut rapidly. Besides handling prey, the jaws have been observed…
• Flexible ankles help the fossa descendMadagascar’s fossa has flexible ankles and semi-retractable claws that help it climb trees and descend head-f…
• The posture completes the camouflageAustralia’s tawny frogmouth angles its head upward while perching, combining posture and patterned plumage to…
• The male inflates its own bright pouchThe male magnificent frigatebird has a red throat pouch that it inflates to attract a mate. Against dark plum…
• The tenrec rubs specialized quills togetherMadagascar’s lowland streaked tenrec produces sound by rubbing specialized quills together. This stridulation…
• The Sunda flying lemur does not fly by flappingThe Southeast Asian Sunda flying lemur glides among trees rather than flying by flapping. Its membrane extend…
• The number names the toppings, not the heatCincinnati chili is served over spaghetti. Chili and pasta make a two-way; cheese creates a three-way; adding…
• A regional sandwich combines familiar formsThe chow mein sandwich places a brown-gravy chow mein mixture in a hamburger-style bun. Associated with south…
• The Garbage Plate is a meat-and-sides combinationRochester, New York’s Garbage Plate piles hot dog or hamburger meat and sauce over sides such as macaroni sal…
• The familiar pizza was developed in OntarioSam Panopoulos is credited with creating the familiar Hawaiian pizza in Ontario, Canada, in 1962. He chose Ha…
• The convincing shape could upset the first customersGermany’s spaghettieis shapes vanilla ice cream as noodles, with strawberry sauce and white toppings resembli…
• A dung beetle can orient using the Milky WayResearch on the African nocturnal dung beetle Scarabaeus satyrus found that it can use the Milky Way’s bright…
• Tsetse larvae receive milk-like nourishmentA female tsetse fly develops one egg at a time inside her body. The larva hatches internally and receives nou…
• Siphonophores are colonies with divided rolesA siphonophore can resemble a single elongated animal, but it is a colony of zooids. Differently formed units…
• Horseshoe crabs belong to the cheliceratesDespite the common name, horseshoe crabs are not crustaceans. They belong to the chelicerates, the larger gro…
• Woodlice carry developing young underneathFemale woodlice hold eggs in a pouch on the underside of the body. Newly hatched young also spend an initial…
• Leopard slugs have an unusual mating positionLimax maximus, commonly called the leopard slug, mates while a pair hangs from a thick mucus thread attached…
• Nautilus vision resembles a pinhole arrangementNautiluses have eyes without a solid lens, using a pinhole-like structure open to the environment. Their visi…
• Peanut worms retract their narrow front sectionMarine sipunculans have a narrow anterior section called the introvert, with the mouth at its tip. They exten…
• An armadillo lizard curls into a defended shapeSouth Africa’s armadillo girdled lizard curls up and holds its tail in its mouth when threatened. Thick back…
• Yellow boxfish move despite their stiff coveringYellow boxfish have a rigid, box-like carapace around the head and body, with openings for the mouth, fins an…
• Aquatic bladderwort uses a tiny triggered doorActive traps of aquatic Utricularia hold lower pressure than the surrounding water. Contact with trigger hair…
• Nepenthes lowii gets nutrients without catching the guestMature Nepenthes lowii plants in Borneo obtain substantial nitrogen from tree-shrew droppings. Visitors feed…
• Ginkgo’s fleshy exterior can mislead the eyeFemale ginkgo trees produce seed structures with a soft, fleshy outer section. Though they resemble small fru…
• Wolffia has flowers despite having no rootsWolffia plants float like small specks and have no roots. Their rarely seen flowers arise in a cavity on the…
• Drosophyllum differs from the usual wetland imageDrosophyllum grows in the western Mediterranean, including Portugal, southwestern Spain and northern Morocco.…
• Secretarybirds use their legs during the huntSecretarybirds mainly hunt on the ground, flushing prey from vegetation and striking with rapid blows of the…
• The greater lophorina presents a different frontal shapeIn courtship, the male greater lophorina of New Guinea spreads its black cape feathers and blue-green breast…
• An okapi can use its tongue for groomingThe okapi uses a long tongue to browse suitable vegetation. The same organ also grooms its ears and eyes. Len…
• Bat-eared foxes have an unusual dietary emphasisBat-eared foxes specialize in insect feeding, with harvester termites sometimes making up most of their diet.…
• The pink fairy armadillo’s armour has a limited attachmentArgentina’s pink fairy armadillo has a dorsal shield connected to the body along a central ridge. Continuous…
• The aardwolf’s tongue does more work than a huntThe African aardwolf belongs to the hyena family but mainly eats termites rather than hunting large prey. It…
• Aardvark teeth have an unusual internal structureAn aardvark tooth consists of numerous thin tubes held together by cementum, each with an internal canal. The…
• A fennec’s ears serve more than hearingThe fennec fox lives in North African desert regions. Its large ears help detect prey, but they also dissipat…
• Desert rain frogs develop into froglets in their eggsThe desert rain frog of Namibia and South Africa lays eggs in a burrow. They hatch into froglets without a fr…
• Galagos mark their pathways with urineGalagos are small African primates that leave urine scent along routes they use through branches. A pathway i…
• Some ants steer back towards their treeSome canopy-dwelling ants control the direction of a fall and glide towards their tree trunk. Gliding behavio…
• Young Issus synchronise their jumping legs mechanicallyNymphs of Issus coleoptratus have intermeshing gear-like teeth at the bases of their hind legs. They keep the…
• Treehoppers expand their pronotum into unusual formsTreehoppers can have ornate projections resembling plant thorns or other organisms. These develop from the pr…
• Male orchid bees store volatile compounds in their legsMale orchid bees collect volatile compounds from orchids and other sources. Special leg structures transfer t…
• Mole crickets shape an acoustic chamberMale mole crickets sing underground. In species such as Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa, a specially shaped burrow ac…
• An ant that hangs up as a food supplySome honeypot ants become living food stores. These workers develop enormously swollen abdomens and hang from…
• A snail with iron minerals on the outsideScaly-foot gastropods live around Indian Ocean hydrothermal vents. Some populations incorporate iron sulphide…
• An 86-centimetre fish inside a 19-centimetre fishA black swallower found off Grand Cayman in 2007 measured 19 centimetres. Its stomach contained an 86-centime…
• That fluffy ant is actually a waspVelvet ants are wasps in the family Mutillidae. Their hairy, wingless females walk around looking remarkably…
• A tiny worm with a very memorable nicknameChaetopterus pugaporcinus has a rounded, swollen middle. Its appearance earned it nicknames including pigbutt…
• The case can identify the caterpillarBagworm larvae combine silk with local materials such as plant fragments or sand. They extend their front end…
• Looking dirty can be camouflageSome assassin bug nymphs cover themselves with dust or debris. Reduvius personatus is known as the masked hun…
• These spiders stretch a net onto their preyNet-casting spiders hold a web between their front legs. They stretch it and move forward to entangle prey. T…
• This cricket-like insect drums with its abdomenJerusalem crickets are neither true crickets nor native to Jerusalem. During courtship, they beat their abdom…
• A crab can redecorate after movingDecorator crabs attach material such as seaweed to their bodies. In a reported observation, great spider crab…
• Its seeds leave with a burst of liquidWhen an Ecballium fruit ripens and separates from its stalk, internal pressure ejects liquid and seeds. Its c…
• Some seed cases open after the heatSome Australian Banksias retain seeds in woody follicles that open after fire. Seeds can start a new generati…
• White berries with a doll-eye lookActaea pachypoda, native to eastern North America, has white fruit marked by a dark stigma scar. The combinat…
• Trying to carry it away moves the flowerWestern Australia’s hammer orchids attract male wasps with a flower part resembling a female wasp in form and…
• The bursting fruit sends seeds out with backspinRipe sandbox tree fruit splits explosively and scatters its seeds. High-speed recording has shown the seeds l…
• No photosynthesis, but not a mushroomMonotropa uniflora, known as ghost pipe, is a pale flowering plant without chlorophyll. It obtains nutrients…
• The flower imitates an injured beeSouthern Africa’s Ceropegia sandersonii has umbrella-shaped flowers. It attracts certain flies by imitating t…
• A snake-like amphibian with no lungsAtretochoana is a long, limbless amphibian rather than a snake. It entirely lacks lungs. Capillaries in its s…
• The rooms form before the ants move inMyrmecodia plants naturally form cavities in swollen stems, including when ants cannot reach them. Ants occup…
• The spiders were known as fossils firstPelican spiders have elongated jaws and neck-like structures and prey on other spiders. European amber fossil…
• The glowing sea tube is a crowd of animalsA pyrosome’s gelatinous tube is a colony of tiny tunicates, typically just millimetres long. Each filters sea…
• The lizard runs across water, brieflyBasilisks of Central and South America can run across water for short distances. Flaps between their toes enl…
• The little mantis lookalike is not a mantisMantisflies have prey-catching forelegs resembling those of praying mantises. They belong to Neuroptera, the…
• The gold-coloured beetle can turn reddish-brownCharidotella sexpunctata, native to the Americas, measures about 5–7 millimetres as an adult. Its mirror-like…
• Dragon millipedes have colour, spines and chemical defencesSoutheast Asian Desmoxytes millipedes include brightly coloured, spiny species, reaching roughly three centim…
• The octopus hides six arms to resemble a sea snakeThe mimic octopus alters shape and behaviour as well as colour. To resemble a sea snake, it hides six arms an…
• These salamanders breathe through skin and mouth tissuesHydromantes salamanders live in California’s mountains and belong to a lungless family. They breathe through…
• Eight legs do not mean eight walking legsAmblypygids are arachnids distinct from true spiders. Their elongated first pair of legs serves as sensory fe…
• A camel spider may be following your shadowSolifuges are arachnids distinct from true spiders and scorpions. Stories describe them pursuing people, but…
• A male babirusa’s upper tusks grow through its snoutMale babirusas from Indonesian islands have upper canine tusks that penetrate the skin of the snout and curve…
• A Toba Aquarium isopod became famous for refusing foodGiant isopods are adapted to food scarcity in the deep sea. A captive animal known as No. 1 at Japan’s Toba A…
• Phronima turns another animal into a moving home for its youngFemale Phronima amphipods hollow out gelatinous salps and lay eggs inside the remaining barrel. They propel i…
• The skeleton flower’s white petals turn transparent when wetDiphylleia grayi, found in Japan and other mountain habitats, has white flowers whose petals become transpare…
• Hairlike structures on this marine worm show shifting coloursAphrodita aculeata, called the sea mouse, is a polychaete worm of the North Atlantic and nearby seas. Its hai…
• River ice can turn like an enormous round recordIn January 2019, an ice disc roughly 91 metres wide appeared on a river in Westbrook, Maine. Slowly rotating…
• A supposedly extinct stick insect survived on an offshore rockThe Lord Howe Island stick insect was thought extinct by around 1920. In 2001, living insects were found on n…
• The Andes’ green mounds are flowering plants, not mossYareta forms low, rounded green cushions in the high Andes. It may resemble a mound of moss, but it is a flow…
• An umbrella-shaped tree produces resin called dragon’s bloodDracaena cinnabari grows in Yemen’s Socotra archipelago and forms a dense, umbrella-shaped crown. Its red res…
• Surinam toad young develop in pockets on their mother’s backThe South American frog Pipa pipa carries developing eggs within pockets in the female’s back skin. The young…
• A tiny spider’s abdomen can look like a spiny shieldGasteracantha cancriformis is an orb-weaving spider found in the Americas. Females have broad abdomens with s…
• Keeping the useful parts of lunchElysia chlorotica, a green sea slug found along North American coasts, retains chloroplasts from the algae it…
• Those ears belong to an octopusGrimpoteuthis octopuses are nicknamed dumbo octopuses. The conspicuous pair of flaps above their eyes are fin…
• The sea angel is a predatorClione limacina swims through cold Arctic and North Atlantic waters with winglike appendages. Adults mainly h…
• A second pair of eyes on the wingsThe spiny flower mantis, Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi, comes from southern and eastern Africa. Adults may have g…
• A crab with living pom-pomsLybia tessellata is a small crab from the tropical Indo-Pacific. It carries a sea anemone in each claw, earni…
• One squid, two very different eyesHistioteuthis heteropsis, the strawberry squid, starts life with similar eyes. Its left eye grows larger. Obs…
• A crustacean inside a sea starDendrogaster is a genus of crustaceans that parasitise the internal body cavity of sea stars. Members occur a…
• A skull shaped like a boomerangDiplocaulus was an amphibian genus that lived from the Late Carboniferous into the Permian. Its skull extende…
• An age count revised to 507Ming was an ocean quahog collected off Iceland in 2006. Its shell growth lines initially suggested 405 years,…
• A balloon-like sac from a nostrilAdult male hooded seals have an inflatable bladder on the head and can also inflate a balloon-like membrane f…
• A frog with a see-through bellySome members of the glass-frog family have transparent or translucent abdominal skin. Internal organs, includ…
• Eyes and teeth—or a caterpillar pattern?Mature Phyllodes imperialis caterpillars have large eyespots and white markings between and below them that r…
• A turtle without a shell? It is a frogWestern Australia’s turtle frog has a small head, short limbs and a rounded body. Its name comes from its res…
• Even the notches resemble a decaying leafMadagascar’s Uroplatus phantasticus gecko has a flattened, leaf-like tail. Some individuals have notches that…
• The red lips are not petalsPalicourea elata grows in Central and South American rainforests. Its conspicuous red, lip-shaped structures…
• A sea cucumber with a jellyfish-like veilPelagothuria natatrix is a sea cucumber with an umbrella-like swimming structure. Its translucent body has pa…
• Rainbow colours and emitted light are differentThe Arctic comb jelly Mertensia ovum shows rainbow colours when light interacts with its moving rows of cilia…
• Two tentacles on a snake’s snoutThe tentacled snake lives in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Its two snout tentacles have a demonstrated mech…
• A marsupial without a nursery pouchAustralia’s numbat is a marsupial that eats mainly termites. Females have no pouch: newborns attach to the te…
• A lanternfly that does not glowFulgora laternaria lives in tropical forests of Mexico, Central America and South America. Its head has a pea…
• A flash may bring in a larger predatorThe deep-sea jellyfish Atolla wyvillei flashes when attacked. This display is thought to work like a burglar…
• Bright red lips on a fish that walksThe red-lipped batfish lives around the Galápagos Islands. Its red lips are striking, but so is its movement:…
• That apparent dead leaf may be a mothUropyia meticulodina occurs in Japan, Taiwan and parts of China. Its adult form mimics a dead leaf, with a wi…
• A giraffe weevil puts its neck to workMadagascar’s giraffe weevil, Trachelophorus giraffa, has a black body, red wing covers and an elongated neck.…
• A moth larva takes on a snake-like faceThe moth Hemeroplanes triptolemus occurs in Central America and beyond. Its caterpillar can expand the front…
• A blue colony drifts with its own little sailVelella floats at the ocean surface with a small rigid sail that catches the wind. What looks like one blue a…
• Its round fruit turns blue insideNative to Central and South America, the cannonball tree bears round fruit with woody shells, reaching about…
• Those shining drops are sticky trapsSundews capture and digest insects with sticky secretions from glands on their leaves. The glistening drops r…
• The rainbow grasshopper cannot flyNorth America’s rainbow grasshopper has striking red, yellow and pale-green markings against a largely black…
• A rocky-looking exterior hides a filter feederPiure, Pyura chilensis, is a tunicate found along Chilean and Peruvian shores. It resembles a mass of organs…
• Silky ice strands can grow from rotting woodFine hairlike ice can form on damp decaying wood in humid conditions just below freezing. The strands are ice…
• Dry weather changes this plant’s shapeSelaginella lepidophylla grows in the Chihuahuan Desert of the United States and Mexico. As it dries, its ste…
• A rat king is a group with tangled tailsA rat king is a group of rodents whose tails are tangled together. A German museum holds a 32-rat specimen re…
• This burrowing frog also eats below the surfaceThe purple frog of India’s Western Ghats has a rounded body and pointed snout. It spends much of its life und…
• A leaflike turtle draws fish into its mouthThe mata mata is a South American freshwater turtle with a flattened triangular head and skin flaps. Its shel…
• This giant hermit-crab relative gives up its borrowed shellCoconut crabs inhabit islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Young ones use empty gastropod shells, like o…
• Its back spines were once mistaken for walking legsHallucigenia was a Cambrian animal with legs and spines on its back. A 1977 reconstruction treated the spines…
• The apparent spider is part of a snakeThis viper from western Iran and neighbouring areas has a swollen tail tip fringed by elongated scales that r…
• A small sea animal builds a house over a metre acrossGiant larvaceans in the genus Bathochordaeus are around 3–10 centimetres long, but their mucus houses can exc…
• Five eyes and a claw-ended appendage made an unusual headOpabinia, known from Canada’s Burgess Shale, lived during the Cambrian period. Its head had five eyes and a f…
• A female octopus spreads a membrane when threatenedBlanket octopuses live in tropical and subtropical oceans. Adult females have long transparent webs between s…
• This mushroom grows its own lace-like skirtPhallus indusiatus develops a net-like structure hanging below its cap. Often called a skirt, the net can ext…
• Following other ants can turn into an endless circleSome army ants separated from their main foraging group lose the pheromone trail and begin following one anot…
• This slender-necked beetle has no eyes or flying wingsLeptodirus hochenwartii lives in caves in Slovenia, Croatia and parts of Italy. It has long legs and antennae…
• Those barrel-like hoops are an animal’s musclesDoliolids are small marine animals with barrel-shaped bodies, openings at both ends and circular muscle bands…
• A parasitic vine grows towards its host’s airborne chemicalsDodder vines attach to other plants to obtain water and nutrients. A study reported in 2006 found that seedli…
• The location of this fossil’s tooth spiral was long debatedHelicoprion was a shark-like cartilaginous fish living roughly 290–270 million years ago. Its spiral tooth wh…
• A kissing fish’s gesture can be a form of aggressionKissing gouramis, native to Southeast Asia, extend their mouths and press them together. The gesture supplied…
• Antarctic icefish have colourless bloodCrocodile icefish inhabit seas around Antarctica. As adults they lack haemoglobin, the oxygen-binding protein…
• Black-and-white tapirs begin with stripes and spotsAdult Malayan tapirs in Southeast Asia have striking black-and-white colouring. Their calves instead have bro…
• Ocean skaters use floating feathers as places for eggsSome Halobates sea skaters live on the open ocean’s surface. These wingless insects move with long legs rathe…
• Some aphid young already contain developing embryosDuring asexual live-bearing phases, an adult aphid can carry developing daughters that already contain embryo…
• A glowing fly larva catches prey in sticky websOrfelia fultoni larvae inhabit damp places in parts of the United States. They emit blue light and build stic…
• Young spiders keep returning for a maternal mealToxeus magnus, a jumping spider found in Taiwan and elsewhere, feeds its young a white nutritional secretion.…
• This wasp lays eggs in beetle grubs undergroundPelecinus polyturator occurs across the Americas. Females have a strikingly long, jointed abdomen and place e…
• Whirligig beetles have divided compound eyesWhirligig beetles commonly swim in circles at the water’s surface. Each compound eye has upper and lower port…
• A small anemone can divide after forming two crownsStarlet sea anemones inhabit shallow brackish waters, often buried in sediment with their tentacles exposed.…
• A land crab investigates falling fruitCardisoma guanhumi lives along Atlantic coastal regions of the Americas and eats leaves, fruit and other food…
• Motmots do not deliberately carve their racket tailsSeveral motmot species have racket-shaped tails, with bare shafts beneath the tips. Earlier accounts claimed…
• This guinea fowl’s appearance disguises a ground-foraging lifeEast Africa’s vulturine guinea fowl has a bare head and long neck resembling a vulture. Below them sit a coba…