Lydia Smith

These leathery turtles spend most of their lives buried motionless in river mud, but burst into action to catch their unsuspecting prey.

Babirusas are believed to have diverged from their pig ancestors between 26 million and 12 million years ago after getting isolated on Sulawesi when sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age.

This little lizard can fire blood up to 5 feet from its face, has spiky horns and inflates itself to choke predators.

Siphonophores are unusual animals made up of individual organisms called "zooids," which each have a distinct function — despite being genetically identical.

An angular roughshark pulled from the water near Elba, an Italian island near Tuscany.

Thorny devils have a plethora of defenses against predators, including a fake head and a weird jerky walk.

The smallest species of anteater grows to just 14 inches, including its tail — but it packs a hefty punch when threatened.

The Pacific geoduck is a clam that lives along the shore from Alaska to Mexico, can reach 9 pounds in weight and can outlive humans.

Sun bears often stand upright like humans, and mothers even walk around cradling their babies in their arms.

Panda ants are actually wasps masquerading as an adorable ant, with black and white females possessing stingers half as long as their entire bodies.

Tasselled wobbegong sharks are so well camouflaged they can vanish on the seafloor, waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass before lunging forward to suck their victims into their giant mouths.

Jaguarundis are weird little felines that are about the size of domestic cats, have long bodies with short legs and round, flattened heads.

Qinling pandas were officially recognized as a subspecies in 2005, but the mystery of their brown fur was only resolved almost two decades later.

Hippos don't produce pink milk, but they do produce a pink, sweat-like secretion.

Footage shows termites trapped inside a fungus in a death spiral, where they march until they die from exhaustion.

Researchers discover ejaculation in male prairie voles triggers a cascade of neural activity in both sexes that helps them form strong bonds and monogamous relationships.

Satellite images reveal the rate that cities along the U.S. East Coast, including New York, Baltimore and Charleston, are sinking into the ground.

Newly described species of jellyfish with a red cross inside its translucent body is only found in the Sumisu caldera over 2,500 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Cornell veterinarians discovered a puppy whose jaw they had surgically removed because of a cancerous tumor had regrown it just eight weeks after the operation.

Piranhas have razor-sharp teeth and often travel in shoals, but can they really strip prey of its flesh in a matter of minutes?

Cities along the Atlantic coast — including New York, Boston, and Miami — are sinking into the ground.

A tusk scooped up my miners in North Dakota turned out to be one of the most complete skeletons of a mammoth ever discovered in the state.

An extremely rare leucistic alligator born in Gatorland, Orlando, is the result of a genetic condition that leads to the partial loss of skin pigmentation, resulting in white or translucent skin.

A megamouth shark that was pregnant with seven pups when it washed ashore in the Philippines has revealed secrets about how this elusive species gives birth.

Fossil enthusiast John Kreatsoulas thought the artifact was a log, before he realized he was holding a bone from the last ice age.