As Mufasa from The Lion King so rightfully stated, we are all a part of the circle of life. The planet, the ecosystems, and all the plants and animals on Earth are connected on a deep level. In many ways, the survival and existence of one species often depends on the survival of many others.

But we’re not just talking about the animal kingdom here. Human beings are no exception. With the severe impacts of climate change and man-made catastrophes such as deforestation and pollution, humans have become increasingly disconnected from nature. So it’s time to take a step back and look at 10 animals on which we rely for our survival.

10 Bees

Those little creatures that are best-known for so craftily making delicious honey actually play a more vital role in the Earth’s functions than you may think. Across the globe, these hardworking little insects transport pollen from flower to flower on their daily routes.^[1]

Pollination is vital as it’s basically what makes most of the plant life on the planet grow. A life without plants, flowers, trees, and fruits would occur without bees doing their handiwork. Unfortunately, the population of bees has fallen by up to 80 percent in certain parts of the world due to human interaction, climate change, disease, and pesticide usage.

9 Plankton

Yes, those microscopic algae, bacteria, and living creatures that are too small to swim against the current play a vital role in our existence. Despite their minuscule size, plankton sustain billions of marine animals by providing food to creatures even as big as the blue whale.

With over 50,000 different plankton species in the light zone of the ocean, they are even visible from space. These little creatures not only feed fish, whales, dolphins, and seabirds, they also provide us with arguably the most pivotal role of all: They’re the reason we can all breathe.

Phytoplankton absorb energy from the Sun and nutrients from the water, the two ingredients needed for photosynthesis. Plankton photosynthesis is responsible for half the world’s oxygen, with the other half coming from photosynthesis on land by trees and other plants.^[2]

8 Ants

So far, humans have discovered over 12,000 species of ants across the world and chances are that you can find them in abundance in almost every ecosystem. These nifty little creatures help to create and maintain healthy soil conditions for plants (aka our food) to grow.^[3]

This crucial activity happens when ants dig into the dirt, building tunnels and aerating the soil as they go. In turn, this aids in decomposition by recycling the nutrients present in the soil.

7 Bats

Yes, these creatures can be somewhat scary. But contrary to popular belief, these vampire-like animals do more good than harm. With over 1,200 species of bats, they are the second-largest order of mammals on the planet. In fact, one in five mammals is a bat.

They’re also the only ones that can fly. As such, they do a great job of performing insect control all around the globe. Bats consume millions of pest insects, meaning that we don’t even have the discomfort of dealing with them.

In numerous countries, mosquitoes carry dangerous and sometimes deadly diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. Bats can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes an hour. In many countries, however, bats are currently facing the loss of habitat through deforestation and other human actions.^[4]

6 Frogs

If only there were some kind of creature that could reliably and effectively indicate the health of various ecosystems and serve as a warning sign for humans to take action. Oh yeah, frogs can do that.

They serve as bio-indicators because their skin absorbs substances in their surrounding habitat.^[5] Consequently, any changes to their skin will indicate contamination or other issues present in the area. Frogs can exist in water as well as on land, meaning that these miraculous animals will be the first to react to any hazards.

5 Fungi

We know you’re all thinking about the mold growing around the house or those not-so-nice foot fungal infections. With over 144,000 known species of organisms in the kingdom Fungi, it was fungi that allowed plants to obtain the nutrients and water from the soil around them.^[6]

Despite popular beliefs, plants do not directly absorb these essential components of life into their roots. Instead, they have the wondrous fungi gather and deliver them from the surrounding soil.

As their second vital function, fungi are also the main nutrient recyclers in nature. They do this with the remnants of dead plants and animals by decomposing them and returning the nutrients to nature to be used again.

4 Fish

Recent research has given light to something you probably did not know. According to researchers at the University of Exeter, fish can help to reduce the impacts of climate change with their excrement.

Yep, fish excrement can significantly reduce the acidity of oceans. In maintaining an ocean’s delicate pH balance, fish excrement floats to the surface of the water and then ultimately dissolves. When this process happens, it forms carbon dioxide which then helps to create acidity in the ocean.

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the pressing issue of overfishing. According to National Geographic, 31 percent of the world’s fish populations are overfished and another 58 percent are fished at the maximum sustainable level.^[7] With seven billion people demanding more fish on their plates, these sea creatures soon won’t be able to reproduce as fast as they are in demand.

3 Worms

How many of you had worm farms growing up? Well, if you did, you may have been onto something. Those wriggly, slimy, little underground creatures can actually help dramatically reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. Rather than putting waste straight into the garbage disposal, people have started to return to worm composting systems.

This practice of decomposition by worms can aid in cutting down green matter and the sheer amount of waste generated in everyday households. In addition, using a worm composting system can create a wonderful fertilizer for your garden and other plants.^[8]

2 Primates Other Than Humans

These cute creatures aren’t just a wonderful economic earner from tourism ventures or our closest biological link. With over 300 different species in the world, primates provide an important role in maintaining tropical and subtropical forests.

Primates’ dung droppings plant the seeds for the trees of tomorrow and keep these forests growing and healthy. Without such ecosystems, we would be without a permanent source of carbon. Tropical rain forests also influence global rainfall patterns. If there are fewer trees in these rain forests, less moisture goes into the atmosphere, rainfall is reduced, and water supplies decline.^[9]

1 Birds

Although all the previously mentioned animals are masters of their own trades, birds seem to dabble a little bit in everything, making them quite important to our world. Included in their broad variety of ecological roles, birds perform insect control, forest decomposition, nutrient recycling, pollination and seed sowing, and soil aeration.^[10]

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Just like human babies, animals are keen to taste everything. After all, how can you know that a car tire is not your favorite snack unless you give it a shot? And with the constant growth of the human population, most animals are bound to encounter people or their belongings at some point.

Despite being unable to digest their snacks, some animals really develop a taste for inedible objects. In fact, certain animals consume so many inedible objects during their lifetime that they are believed to seek the items on purpose.

It should be no surprise that one of the most common duties for veterinarians is helping animals that have consumed something they cannot digest. Just about everything easy to reach and small enough for an animal to swallow has been found within the stomachs of various creatures. These are some of the most interesting examples.

10 Goose

In Illinois in 2017, a woman brought her six-month-old pilgrim goose to a local veterinarian. The woman explained that she always wore a cross-shaped necklace around her neck. But the necklace had attracted some unexpected attention while she was cleaning the barn.

Turns out that the sparkly cross was too intriguing for the goose to ignore. As the owner bent over to pick up something, the goose quickly snapped at the necklace—breaking it and swallowing the cross in the process.

After an X-ray was taken, the emergency that was nicknamed “The Holy Goose” was resolved by using an endoscope to retrieve the cross.^[1]

9 Whale

Due to the enormous size of whales and their proportionally massive mouths, swallowing something unintentionally is quite common for them. In 2010, marine mammal researchers found an unusually large amount of man-made debris in the stomach of one gray whale.

The 11-meter-long (37 ft) whale washed ashore in West Seattle. Its stomach contained more than 20 plastic bags, surgical gloves, duct tape, a golf ball, small towels, sweatpants, and various pieces of plastic.

Despite the abundance of debris, it only made up 1–2 percent of the total stomach contents. The rest was mostly algae. The whale’s death was likely unrelated to the inedible objects, but they indicated that the whale tried to feed in urban waterways.

John Calambokidis from the Cascadia Research Collective noted: “It’s not a very good testament to our stewardship of the marine environment.” The whale also had cuts on its head, which could have been caused by a boat propeller.

According to Cascadia:

Gray whales are filter feeders that typically feed on the bottom and suck in sediment in shallow waters and filter the contents to strain out the small organisms that live there. While debris has been found in the stomachs of some previous gray whales found dead in Puget Sound, this appeared to be a larger quantity than had ever been found previously.^[2]

8 Elephant

Jumbo the elephant was born in the 1860s on the border of modern-day Ethiopia and Sudan. The name “Jumbo” comes from the Swahili jumbe (“chief”). Tribesmen captured and sold the young elephant to an Italian animal dealer after slaughtering his mother for tusks.

At the time, most of the elephants seen in Europe and the US came from India. As an African elephant, Jumbo was significantly larger in comparison. This became his main selling point. Millions gathered to see the gigantic elephant when he arrived at the London Zoo. Thousands of children took turns riding the elephant. Even the children of Queen Victoria and a young Winston Churchill became fans of Jumbo.

However, by age 21, the famous elephant started having dangerous temper tantrums. Nobody quite understood what caused the issue, and the zoo could not risk the elephant harming anyone. Recent research with the latest technology reveals that Jumbo may have suffered an intense toothache from a monotonous diet.

When the Barnum & Bailey circus in America offered £2,000 for Jumbo—a huge sum at the time—the London Zoo was eager to accept. The purchase price was quickly recouped when roughly 20 million visitors came to view Jumbo in the US in the subsequent years until his death in 1885. The elephant died at age 24, tragically young for a member of a breed that can reach age 70 in the wild.

Taxidermist Carl Akeley made an interesting discovery while working to preserve the elephant’s skeleton and skin. Jumbo’s stomach contained 300 coins, a police whistle, and a bunch of keys. The coins were likely ride payments which the elephant had scooped up and swallowed.

The elephant’s skeleton, which weighed more than six tons and stood 4 meters (13 ft) tall, is held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Jumbo inspired a Hollywood film, Walt Disney’s 1941 Dumbo, and has become a descriptive term for jumbo shrimp, jumbo eggs, and the jumbo popcorn bucket.^[3]

7 Shark

Sharks are willing to take a bite out of anything they come across. This is especially true for tiger sharks, frequently referred to as the “trash cans of the ocean.” License plates, bottles, money, musical instruments, and even car tires have been found within their stomachs.

However, one of the most interesting objects ever found in a shark’s stomach came from a great white shark. The object was apparently found by French physician Guillaume Rondelet, who described more than 440 species of aquatic animals.

In 1554, he described the great white shark along with a story of one specimen that was found to have an entire suit of steel armor in its belly. Scientists are unsure how the “sea dog” managed to swallow the full set of armor. But thanks to Rondelet’s reputation in the scientific community, the story is believed to be true.

Animal classification according to their evolutionary relationships is a fairly recent development. Previously, animals were given scientific names based on the whim of the classifier. Before Darwin, it was assumed that all animals were divinely created and naming sharks “sea dogs” was acceptable.

Rondelet is considered to be the father of modern ichthyology as he was the first to describe marine animals with clearly defined anatomical principles. As he lived before Linnaeus, Rondelet did not use the Linnaean classification system.

Instead, Rondelet decided to name the great white shark Canis carcharias even though Canis was not the genus of the shark and carcharias was not the species. As Rondelet was the first to describe the animal, his chosen scientific name stuck around for centuries.

Linnaeus dropped the reference to dogs by naming the great white shark Squalus carcharias. Rondelet’s made-up name finally stopped being favored by the end of the 19th century. Today, the scientific name for the great white shark is Carcharodon carcharias.^[4]

6 Snake

Most people see snakes as nothing more than pests. Although the average individual might put himself in danger to rescue a cute and fluffy mammal, he would likely kill a snake or avoid it entirely.

One snake was lucky enough to receive help instead of a death sentence from a farmer. In 2014, a fully grown cat snake slithered into a hen coop in Uttara Kannada district in India.

The hungry reptile was looking for a hen or an egg to swallow and went for the first available target—a light bulb. After its long stay in the hen coop, the bulb smelled like birds and was probably mistaken for an egg. With the bulb wedged in its belly, the snake became immobile. It hid in a corner for the next two days.

The farmer realized that something weird was going on when chickens were hesitant to get back into the hen coop. He discovered the curled-up cat snake after a thorough inspection and immediately called local snake rescuers.

After realizing that the snake had swallowed a light bulb, rescuers spent four hours carefully pushing the bulb out. If the bulb had broken inside, the snake would have suffered internal injuries. Every time the snake became aggressive, the rescuers had to stop and let it calm down.^[5]

The snake was kept in captivity for the next two days to ensure its well-being. It was released back into the wild later.

5 Turtle

A green sea turtle in Thailand was affectionately called “Om Sin” (“Piggy Bank”) when vets removed 915 coins from her stomach and intestines. She had been eating coins that tourists threw into her pond for good luck.

It took four hours of surgery for the veterinarians to remove around 5 kilograms (11 lbs) of local and foreign currency. Vets from the Chulalongkorn University team could not imagine how the turtle even swallowed so many coins.

The vets had to anesthetize the 25-year-old turtle and cut her shell to operate on her stomach. “If we didn’t operate on her, then she wouldn’t have been able to eat or defecate and would have soon died,” said veterinarian Nantarika Chansue.

Although Om Sin was swimming and eating normally for a week, she died two weeks after the surgery. Vets stated that she was recovering well, and they planned to return her to the pond. Unfortunately, the turtle was found breathing too slowly and was taken into intensive care with a serious intestinal infection.^[6]

The turtle slipped into a coma and died the next day. Facebook updates of the situation received thousands of shares among the people of Thailand, who see turtles as symbols of longevity.

4 Ostrich

Ostriches mainly feed on grass, seeds, shrubs, insects, flowers, and fruits. And that is exactly what you would expect to find in the stomach of a dead ostrich. However, when one ostrich at London Zoo suddenly died around 1930, a postmortem examination revealed a surprising array of inedible objects.

The bizarre find compelled a photographer working at the London Zoo to take a picture and list the contents on the back of the photo. The ostrich had swallowed three handkerchiefs, a piece of a pencil, three cotton gloves, part of a bicycle valve, part of a metal comb, an alarm clock key, 1.8 meters (6 ft) of string, the wooden center of a spool, seven coins, several small pieces of metal, one piece of wood, and a 10-centimeter (4 in) nail.

Some argue that the great number of swallowed objects is a sad consequence of the bird’s urban existence, but there is another explanation. Ostriches have no teeth and ingest stones to help masticate their food in the gizzard. The bird likely swallowed the objects to help digest food. Sadly, swallowing the nail proved fatal, causing death by perforation.^[7]

3 Cod

Bjorn Frilund, a 64-year-old Norwegian man with a fishing hobby, found something highly unusual in one of the fish he caught. While gutting a large cod, he felt a big lump in its belly. At first, he found two semi-digested herrings. But the lump remained, and a further search revealed a hefty orange vibrator.

Although Frilund had a lot of fishing experience in the waters of his hometown of Eidsbygda, he had never heard of a fish swallowing a sex toy. The fisherman believes that the cod, weighing over 5 kilograms (11 lbs), mistook the vibrator for an octopus. Frilund said:

It was totally unexpected. I had never seen anything like this before. Fish eat all kinds of different things, and the dildo looks like what the fish eat. We have a kind of multicolored octopus in Norway. Maybe the cod thought this was one of these and ate it.^[8]

It is amazing that such an unlikely object was even there for the fish to swallow. Frilund speculated that it may have been thrown off a cruise ship and that his chances of winning the lottery are probably greater than the chances of catching a fish that has swallowed a sex toy.

2 Dog

Due to their close proximity to humans, dogs are primary candidates for inedible object consumption. They are by far the most likely animals to end up in a veterinarian’s office because of something they ate. Almost every common household object that can fit in a dog’s mouth has been found inside a dog.

In the year 2000, a six-month-old collie-Staffordshire Bull Terrier achieved something truly bewildering. The 45.7-centimeter-long (18 in) dog named Kyle swallowed a 38.1-centimeter-long (15 in) bread knife.

Kyle was taken to a vet in Leeds, UK, when he started vomiting. Amazingly, there was no sign of a foreign body according to the veterinary officer Dr. Ann Draper. It took an hour to remove the knife.

“It was only when it didn’t settle down that we decided to do an X-ray,” Draper explained. “The knife could have cut his internal organs to shreds at any time, and it’s a miracle he survived.”^[9]

This bizarre incident even resulted in a Guinness World Record for the longest solid object swallowed by a dog. After minor post-procedure swelling, the fortunate dog returned to living a normal life at home.

1 Squid

In 2013, a 0.9-meter-long (3 ft) squid was caught near Guangdong province and brought to the Jiaoling county fish market. A fishmonger was gutting the squid for a customer when his knife hit a 20-centimeter-long (8 in) live bomb.

The fishmonger, Mr. Huang, quickly notified the authorities about his surprising discovery. Police suggested that the aubergine-shaped bomb weighing around 1.4 kilograms (3 lbs) might have been dropped by a fighter jet.

Despite the explosive’s age and rusty exterior, it was still active and could have detonated. Police took the bomb to a safe location and performed a controlled explosion.

“This sort of squid lives close to the shore and normally makes a meal of small fish and prawns,” said Mr. Huang. “Perhaps he thought the bomb was his favorite food and gulped it down. He certainly had a big belly when he was caught.”^[10]

Under the headline, “Squid Eats Bomb,” Guangzhou Daily reminded its readers to be cautious and always call the police if they encounter explosives.

Mummies are often associated with ancient Egyptians even though they were not the only culture that mummified dead humans and animals. The Chinese did, too. The Egyptians were probably not the first, either. The Chinchorro people of Chile have been mummifying their dead since 5000 BC. The first Egyptian mummy was created 2,000 years later.

Mummies could also be created naturally. The Incas did this when they mummified their dead by exposing them to the cold temperatures and dry climate. However, the most fascinating natural mummies were created after a human or animal died in some random place.

A lucky combination of a perfect location, weather, and temperature as well as the absence of scavengers turned them into mummies. We have found some, and they are just amazing.

10 Stuckie The Dog

Stuckie is the mummified remains of a hunting dog that was trapped in a chestnut oak tree for almost 60 years. The dog was probably chasing a raccoon when it entered the tree through a hole around 1960.

Unfortunately, the dog was too big to pass through the hollowed-out tree and got stuck. Eventually, it died of starvation. However, its body mummified instead of decaying. It remained untouched for about 60 years until it was discovered after some loggers cut the tree.

Scientists later discovered that the moisture-absorbing tannin in the tree prevented Stuckie from decaying. The fact that the animal was stuck inside the tree also protected its body from scavengers. Stuckie is currently displayed at the Southern Forest World Museum in Waycross, Georgia. The dog’s remains are still inside the tree.^[1]

9 Two Extinct Cave Lions

In 2015, contractors searching for mammoth fossils around the Uyandina River in Siberia found the mummified remains of two cave lion cubs. These animals are the same size as the Siberian tiger—the world’s largest cat species. Cave lions roamed through Africa, Europe, and North America until they went extinct 12,000 years ago.

Over 12,000 years ago, these cave lion cubs were 2–3 weeks old when the soil around their den collapsed and buried them inside. Cave lions are born blind, and researchers believe that the mummified cubs had never opened their eyes at the time of death.

The ice of Siberia mummified their remains, leaving them well-preserved. Even their eyes were intact, making them the most complete cave lion fossils we have ever found. Before their discovery, fossil bones were all we had to prove that cave lions had ever existed. The fossils were named Uyan and Dina after the Uyandina River where they were found.^[2]

8 Lions From Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pharaohs, pyramids, and mummies. We all know they mummified lots of humans and cats. However, a lot of people do not know that they also mummified several other animals, including baboons, crocodiles, dogs, birds, and lions.

Mummified lions are the most surprising. We already know that lions were revered in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptian god Nefertum is depicted as a lion. The goddess Sekhmet also has a lion head. Ancient Egyptian writings indicate that this civilization kept lions and could have mummified the animals after their deaths.

A group of archaeologists led by Alain Zivie revealed that tales of the mummified lions were true after the scientists found the first mummified remains of a lion among those of several cats at Saqqara cemetery in Egypt. Analysis revealed that the lion was a pet that had lived and died in captivity.^[3]

7 Fake And Partial Animal Mummies

A few years ago, researchers from the University of Manchester and Manchester Museum scanned 800 animal mummies from ancient Egypt. To their surprise, they discovered that a third of the mummies had no animal remains in them. Another third had partial animal remains, and the last third contained full animals.

This probably occurred because animals were often mummified to be offered as sacrifices to Egyptian deities. In comparison, human mummies were created to preserve the bodies for their spiritual journeys into the afterlife.

Researchers believe that ancient Egyptians specifically bred animals to turn into mummies. They were often unable to keep up during periods of high demand, causing them to sometimes cut corners. And how best to cut corners if not by excluding the animal from the mummy?

While some researchers believe that sellers passed the fake mummies off as the real thing, others believe that vendors replaced the animals with items used by the animals, which was supposedly ethical. Examples include putting a nest or eggshell in place of a bird. However, no one knows for sure.^[4]

6 An Ancient Baby Horse

Until a few years ago, Batagaika crater in eastern Siberia harbored the mummified remains of a young Lena horse (Equus caballus lenensis). The now-extinct Lena horse lived in eastern Siberia 30,000–40,000 years ago. This foal is believed to have lived around the same time.^[5]

Researchers believe that the foal died by drowning after a fall into a natural trap. The animal was just two months old at the time of death. Fortunately for us, its remains were perfectly mummified in the icy permafrost of Siberia. The foal was found with its skin, tail, hooves, and nose hairs intact.

5 Mummies Of Eagles, Doves, Swallows, Bats, And More

Lake Natron is one of the weirdest lakes you will ever read about. Located in Tanzania, the lake has a higher-than-normal alkaline level, making it highly caustic and deadly. Animals that fall into it die and become calcified. Only some flamingos, the Alcolapia latilabris (a species of small fish), and algae can survive the lake’s harsh properties.

Mummified remains of eagles, doves, swallows, songbirds, and even bats have been recovered from the lake. Flying animals are often victims because the lake reflects like a mirror when viewed from above. Many unfortunate birds and even a helicopter pilot unwittingly ended up in the lake after mistaking it for empty space.

Lake Natron is named after natron, a chemical formed from a mixture of sodium carbonate and baking soda. This is the same reason that the water has a high alkaline content and turns birds into mummies. Natron itself has been used by humans for millennia. Ancient Egyptians used it as far back as the 4th millennium BC to make glass and preserve their mummies.^[6]

4 Yukagir Bison

In 2011, some tribesmen in Siberia found the mummified remains of a bison along a lake. Researchers determined that it belonged to the now-extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus), an ancestor of the modern American and European bison. However, researchers named the fossil after the Yukagir tribe that found it.

The Yukagir bison was found in almost perfect condition, which is really incredible considering that it died about 9,000 years ago. In fact, it is the most perfect steppe bison fossil ever found. It had its fur and most of its internal organs intact—including the heart, lungs, stomach, blood vessels, and brain—even though they had shrunk in size.

Researchers later removed several of these body parts for analysis. They determined that the bison was around four years old at the time of death. It probably died of starvation because there were no layers of fat in its abdomen.^[7]

3 Yuka The Mammoth

The fossil of Yuka the mammoth takes the top spot among the mammoth fossils we have discovered. This is because Yuka’s internal organs are well-preserved even though she has been dead for 39,000 years. Her brain, tissues, and muscles are all intact. In fact, scientists are trying to use her tissues and DNA to clone the woolly mammoth.

The intact brain is the most fascinating. Researchers have never found a mammoth brain even though they have discovered lots of mammoth fossils. Interestingly, researchers never expected to find a brain. They saw it by chance during a MRI scan to detect Yuka’s age.

Yuka was found in Russia’s Arctic Circle in 2010. She weighs over 100 kilograms (220 lb), causing researchers to speculate that she was 6–11 years old at the time of death. The analysis of injuries, including bite and scar marks, on her body reveal that she was attacked by a cave lion trying to feed on her.

Some humans watched the hunt. The cave lion scored the kill, and the humans probably attempted to steal it. However, it is obvious that none of the parties succeeded.^[8]

2 Ice Age Wolf Pup

In 2016, some Canadian miners found the 50,000-year-old mummified remains of the only ice age wolf we have ever found. The pup was discovered as the permafrost melted around the Klondike region of Yukon, Canada. Interestingly, the pup was perfectly preserved with its head, tail, skin, hair, and other body parts intact.

A nearby caribou calf was not perfectly preserved and was missing several vital body parts from the stomach down. Only the head, torso, and two front legs were intact. Scientists determined that the pup and caribou calf died around the same time. Scientists hope to extract the pup’s DNA to provide insight into the ice age wolf population.^[9]

1 A 12,400-Year-Old Puppy

In 2016, researchers recently got their hands on the 12,400-year-old mummified remains of a puppy from the Pleistocene epoch. The fossil was found frozen in the permafrost at the bank of the River Syalakh in Siberia. Researchers believe that the puppy died in a landslide after which its body mummified in the ice.

Curiously, the mummified fossil of the puppy was well-preserved. Its entire body, from its nose to its tail, was intact. Even its hair was unscathed. The brain had partly decomposed, though. However, 70–80 percent of it was intact, which is impressive considering how long the puppy has been dead.

To put that into perspective, the partly decomposed brain of the 12,400-year-old puppy is the only brain we have from an animal from the Pleistocene epoch even though the puppy is not the only animal or dog we have from that time period.

Earlier in 2011, researchers had found the fossil of another dog around the area. Unfortunately, that animal was too decomposed to be useful. Scientists believe that both dogs are related. Researchers also uncovered human tools around the site.^[10]

They believe that the tools belonged to the humans who owned the animals. This indicates that they were domestic animals. This is why scientists concluded that they were dogs and not wolves. Nevertheless, researchers believe that the valuable DNA and tissue extracted from the 12,400-year-old puppy could be used to bring it back to life.

Some animals are on the verge of extinction. The difference between a related group of animals continuing for another generation or becoming just another addition to the history books may be the survival of just a few species.

Some have even gone extinct in the wild and are only around because we had them in captivity. Nevertheless, every animal on this list will be extinct in a few years unless breeding programs become successful or some miracle happens.

10 Vaquita

The vaquita is one animal you have probably never heard of. It is a small porpoise that only lives in the Gulf of California. It presently holds the title of the “rarest marine mammal in the world.” Only 10 are left in the wild, and that number is going down.

The vaquitas are endangered because of the illegal poaching of the totoaba fish, which is also native to the vaquitas’ natural habitat. The totoaba fish is in high demand in China where traditional medicine men claim that it cures several illnesses.

Poachers often use gill nets to catch the totoaba fish. Unfortunately, the vaquitas often get entangled in the illegal nets. The vaquitas are useless to the poachers, who just dump their carcasses back into the water. For the poachers, it is all about the money. The stomach of the totoaba fish sells for $46,000 per kilogram ($20,865 per lb).

For the vaquitas, it could be the difference between survival and extinction. Lots of them get entangled in those nets. In fact, over 20 vaquitas could have become entangled in nets since 2017 when their population was put at 30.

The Mexican government has declared a part of the Gulf of California as a refuge area for vaquitas. However, it does not seem like it will save the animals. Poachers still hunt for totoaba fish within the refuge, and the government seems to be incapable of stopping them.^[1]

9 Northern White Rhino

Until March 2018, only three northern white rhinos were left in the world. Now there are only two. Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, was euthanized at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya in March 2018 after suffering a series of complications caused by old age. Sudan was 45 years old, which is equivalent to 90 in human years.

At their height, northern white rhinos roamed through Uganda, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Chad. However, their population was dramatically reduced by illegal poaching, which reached its height in the 1970s and 1980s. Their population has been in decline ever since. In 2008, the northern white rhino officially went extinct in the wild.

Sudan was survived by his daughter and granddaughter, which are the only two northern white rhinos left. Both females are past childbearing age and are possibly the last of their kind unless some northern white rhinos miraculously turn up somewhere.

Scientists are trying to stop the extinction of the critically endangered rhino by artificially inseminating female southern white rhinos with the sperm of the northern white rhino. This is the first stage of a grand plan to implant the embryo of the northern white rhino into a southern white rhino.

Javan and Sumatran rhinos are two other species of rhinos at the brink of extinction. The Javan rhino has a population of just 67, while the Sumatran rhino has just 100. The southern white rhino is much better off. There are between 19,000 and 21,000 left in the wild.^[2]

8 Fernandina Island Tortoise

The Fernandina Island tortoise (Chelonoidis phantasticus) is native to Fernandina Island, one of the several islands that form the Galapagos Islands. The tortoise was considered extinct until one showed up this year.

Before this discovery, the last time a Fernandina Island tortoise was spotted was in 1906. It disappeared thereafter. In fact, some began to doubt whether it really existed or was just another joke or misidentified species.

This year, a team from Galapagos National Park and the Galapagos Conservancy proved that the Fernandina Island tortoise really existed when they visited the island to find the tortoise. They discovered an adult female that is over 100 years old. Researchers also found tortoise footprints and droppings, indicating that more tortoises could be in the area.

Interestingly, unlike most other animals that are at the brink of extinction due to human action, the Fernandina Island tortoise is at risk because of its habitat. Fernandina Island contains active volcanoes. Lava sometimes flows down the sides of the mountains, killing the tortoises.^[3]

Humans played a part, too. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, Fernandina Island was a fertile hunting ground for passing ships, which often stopped by to hunt tortoises. Over 100,000 tortoises were hunted during that time. Today, feral non-native animals like pigs, dogs, cats, and cattle also prey on the tortoise eggs or compete with the tortoises for food.

The Fernandina Island tortoise is not the only tortoise at risk of extinction. The other nine species of tortoise on the Galapagos Islands are also endangered. A few centuries ago, there were 15 species of tortoise on the islands. Five are already extinct.

7 Amur Leopard

Several species of leopard across the world have been experiencing a declining population over the past decades. They are often killed by poachers and humans who consider them a threat. They have also lost large tracts of their natural habitats to deforestation.

The Amur leopards are the worst hit. Only 60 cats are estimated to be left in the wild, making this subspecies one of the most endangered cats in the world. The majority of the surviving leopards live in the Land of the Leopard National Park, an Amur leopard nature reserve in Russia. The reserve covers 60 percent of the cats’ natural habitat.

While considerably safe from humans, the leopards are at risk from other predators in the forest, including the Amur (Siberian) tiger. Determining the population of the Amur leopard has been difficult because it is one of the world’s most elusive cats. To help with the count, park officials installed motion-sensitive cameras at strategic locations.^[4]

6 Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) is native to the Red River of China and parts of Vietnam. This is why it is also called the Red River turtle. Unfortunately, this animal has lost a large part of its habitat to the massive infrastructure development in China. And it continues to lose more, especially as China builds more dams.

Only three Yangtze giant softshell turtles were left in the world as of 2017. A male and female pair are held at Suzhou Zoo, China, while the third lives in Dong Mo Lake in Vietnam. The sex of the third is unknown because the turtles are naturally elusive, making them difficult to spot and observe.

Besides the loss of habitat, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle also suffers a declining population that is caused by poachers killing them for their eggs, meat, and skin. Poaching has actually caused a decline in the population of every other turtle species across the world.^[5]

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle got a population boost in 2018 after a wild turtle was found in Xuan Khanh Lake in Vietnam. There may be even more as locals living around China’s Red River have reported spotting one or two turtles.

5 Hainan Gibbon

The Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) is the world’s rarest primate. Only 25 are left in the wild. They are cramped into a pitiable 2-square-kilometer (0.8 mi²) area of Bawangling National Nature Reserve on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

The Hainan gibbon suffered a massive population decline after losing most of its habitat to deforestation. Poachers also took their toll on its population as the animals were widely hunted for food, for their supposed medicinal properties, or just to be sold as pets.

The massive population loss has led to inbreeding and a decline in general health. Almost every gibbon on the island is related. Curiously, the Hainan gibbon is not the only gibbon at risk of extinction. Eighteen of their 19 species are endangered.^[6]

4 Sehuencas Water Frog

The Sehuencas water frog is native to the cloud forests of Bolivia. In recent years, the frog has suffered a population decline after losing large areas of its habitat to pollution and climate change. The loss of population has been worsened by the deadly Chytrid fungus and an invasive trout fish that eats the frog’s eggs.

There are only six Sehuencas water frogs left in the world. Interestingly, five of them were found recently. There was only one Sehuencas water frog left as of February 14, 2018. He was named Romeo and was called “the world’s loneliest frog.”

Romeo was alone until Match.com, the Global Wildlife Conservation, and the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny decided to raise funds for an expedition to find a partner for the frog. It started with Match.com creating a profile for Romeo. This raised awareness and the needed funds for the expedition.

The expedition team found five more frogs. Two were male, and three were female. Each female was paired with a male, including the third which was paired with Romeo. She was called Juliet.^[7]

3 Marsican Brown Bear

The Marsican brown bear (Ursus arctos Marsicanus) is a subspecies of the brown bear. It lives in the Apennine Mountains of Italy, which is why it is also called the Apennine brown bear. Hundreds of bears lived in the mountains a few centuries ago. But they soon got into conflict with shepherds and farmers, who considered them pests. Only 50 are left today.

Italy is making conservation efforts and trying to tag the bears to monitor their movements. Unfortunately, in 2018, a tagging operation ended badly after a bear died during a botched capture attempt. The bear suddenly suffered breathing difficulties and died after it was sedated to be tagged with a radio collar.^[8]

2 South China Tiger

The South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) is a subspecies of the tiger. It is believed to be the major tiger from which other subspecies descended. However, that would not matter anymore if it goes extinct—which could be soon. Only 24 are estimated to remain in the world.

The South China tiger became endangered in the 20th century when deforestation put it in close proximity to humans. It was massively killed at the time because it often fed on livestock. The tiger’s population never recovered. In the 1970s, there were 4,000 left in the wild. Today, there are none. All 24 survivors are in captivity.

However, there are claims that 20 South China tigers are in the wild. Some even argue that the wild population is far more than 20. However, nobody has reported a verifiable sighting of the tiger in 20 years. The captive population is not faring any better. The current population is way below the 50 tigers that were in captivity in the mid-1990s.^[9]

1 Asiatic Cheetah

The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) freely roamed through several Asian nations a few centuries ago. India had lots of these cheetahs, but they were hunted to extinction as sport. The Asiatic cheetah started to suffer habitat loss in other parts of Asia during the 19th and 20th centuries when huge parts of its natural range were turned into farmland.

The Asiatic cheetah soon went extinct everywhere except Iran. Today, it is considered native to Iran. With only 50 left in the country, it’s only a matter of time before the animal becomes native to nowhere.

In Iran, the Asiatic cheetah will occasionally kill sheep and goats, drawing the ire of herders who hunt and kill it in return. Its range also crosses the highway, where it often ends up as roadkill. Mines are also springing up within its range, further reducing its territory.

Conservation efforts have been frustrated by the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. It worsened in 2017 when the UN stopped funding the conservation and suggested that the Iranian government take over. However, that could be difficult because Iran has reduced the budget of the Department of Environment that is responsible for overseeing the cheetah’s habitat.^[10]

At times, evolution takes a wrong turn. When it does, all we can do is stare in fascination at what it produces for us. Sometimes, it gives us something wonderful like the octopus. Other times, we get something terrible like the bobbit worm.

But every now and then, we get an animal that’s just so poorly thought out that it makes us wonder if evolution itself might have been drunk during the design phase. These animals have no right to exist in the state they do. Yet they continue on, not knowing that their bodies, brains, or both are ridiculous.

10 Horse

When we think about horse attributes, one of the first things that comes to mind is speed. Horses are built for it, bred for it, and even used as a measurement of how fast and powerful a car is. We as a species chose, bonded with, and selectively bred these animals to be fast and strong. So you would think that they would be physically well suited to running, jumping, and pulling.

Unfortunately for the horse, they got the short straw when it comes to their physicality. Horses can reach speeds of up to 80–89 kilometers per hour (50–55 mph), roughly twice the top speed of a human being. But it comes at a cost: A horse that runs at that speed for more than a few minutes experiences bleeding in its lungs and throat.^[1]

Their bodies are built for speed and power, and yet they are incredibly fragile. When horses exercise too hard or for too long, they develop an “exercise intolerance” that causes their very breath to hurt them. The pressure on their lungs from gasping for air while running breaks blood vessels and causes them to cough up blood.

Once it starts, the only fix for this problem is to stop them from running.

9 Koala

Herbivores are a special class of animal. To eat nothing but vegetation that wears down the teeth, they have to have special adaptations. Some—like rats, hamsters, and other such rodents—have teeth that just grow forever. Others, like the horse, have incredibly tall teeth that take years to wear down.

On the other hand, koalas . . . have nothing. In addition to having small, smooth brains (which rob them of the ability to accomplish complex tasks) and being incredibly picky eaters who only consume poison (the toxic and extremely low-nutrient leaves of the eucalyptus plant), koalas have a single, rooted set of small, jagged teeth.

Over time, the tough, fibrous leaves of the eucalyptus plants wear down those teeth—all the way to the gumline. Unable to eat the leaves and unwilling to consume anything else, the koala starves to death.^[2]

8 Sunfish

The ocean sunfish (aka mola) is one of those rare animals that serves no purpose on this Earth. They are strange-looking with their large eyes and lips and their inability to close their mouths due to their strange teeth.

In addition, they are exceptionally vulnerable to parasites and predators. Not that they have many, of course. The 4.3-meter (14 ft), 2,300-kilogram (5,000 lb) fish exists on a diet of algae, plankton, and jellyfish. All these foods are low in nutrition, which makes them the fish equivalent of lettuce.

This unfortunate creature also lacks a swim bladder, an important organ that nearly all fish possess to help them float. The sunfish has to compensate for this missing organ with every inch of its body, specifically with a layer of jelly under its skin that makes it neutrally buoyant.

In fact, the only reason the sunfish continues to exist is because it lays up to 300 million eggs at a time. This would be impressive except that their strategy is to dump all 300 million into the water near a male and hope that the eggs are fertilized and survive to hatch.^[3]

7 Cheetah

The cheetah is one of our favorite predators. We imagine them snarling and pouncing on prey as they roam the African plains. We see them as powerful, speedy hunters that are always ready to take on a challenge.

Even though we love them, we are a little afraid of cheetahs because we equate them to lions. With the cheetahs’ sharp claws, sharp teeth, and incredible speed, you’d assume that they are fearless hunters that could stare death in the eye and chirp before swallowing a village whole.

Fortunately for us, we don’t have to worry too much about them because cheetahs are known for another trait as well: severe anxiety. Especially in captivity, cheetahs are so horribly stressed out just by existing that they have trouble socializing and breeding. It’s gotten to the point that zoos around the world have started giving cheetahs their own support dogs to help them stay calm enough to breed and socialize.^[4]

Luckily for the cheetahs, the dogs are happy to be their support buddies and neither seems to be a threat to the other.

6 Sea Snakes

Water all around and not a drop to drink!

Sea snakes are exactly what their name suggests: snakes that live in the sea. These odd little creatures swim on top of the waves. They slither across the ocean as if it were sand, eat fish, and have babies. Given that they live in salt water, you’d think they could drink it.

Nope. In fact, sea snakes are almost always in a state of moderate dehydration. They can’t drink salt water at all and have to wait for it to rain. When it rains on the ocean, the less dense fresh water sits on top, floating over the more dense salt water of the sea.^[5]

When this happens, the snakes are free to drink as much as they can. However, as rains happen infrequently out there on the waves, the poor snakes spend much of their time thirsty to the point of dehydration.

They also can’t go on land and either can’t or won’t swim into freshwater streams and rivers.

5 Giant Squid

The giant squid is one of the only true sea monsters in the ocean. With eyes the size of basketballs and top speeds of up to 32 kilometers per hour (20 mph), the giant squid is massive, fast, and terrifying to encounter. It eats up to 227 kilograms (500 lb) of food a day in the form of fish, sharks, and even smaller squid.

Don’t think for a second that it’s all good for this huge cephalopod. This creature also has a fatal design flaw: Its throat runs directly through its own brain. Should this massive tentacled beast eat something too big, swallowing the prey will give the giant squid brain damage as the bulge passes through the brain and presses hard against the tissues. The big gulp will bruise and possibly mash the ring of brain pressed against the esophagus.^[6]

For this animal, biting off more than you can handle can be a death sentence.

4 Kakapo Bird

Imagine for a minute that you could only hook up with someone based on how many berries were ripe on the bushes around your house. Not only that, but there was a very low chance of anything actually coming of it even if the berries were plentiful. That’s life as a kakapo parrot, the world’s only flightless parrot and resident idiot bird of New Zealand.

Considered a sacred bird by local Maori populations, the kakapo is an absolute mystery of evolution. Flightless, nocturnal, and with massive thighs for climbing trees, these birds have no defense against predators such as weasels, cats, and feral dogs. But the real kicker is their mating habits.

Once every two or three years (and sometimes as long as five years), a certain berry (the rimu fruit) comes into bloom on the islands where these birds live. Only during a good blooming season for these fruits will the kakapo mate.

The males build large, acoustic bowls and make loud, booming “BOW” noises to attract a female. But if he isn’t loud enough or if insufficient rimu fruit is in bloom, the females will ignore him. Their infertility rates are so high that this only hurts them. As of now, there are just over 150 wild kakapo.^[7]

3 Great White Sharks

Nothing captures the imagination of ocean lovers quite like the great white shark. With its huge jaws, rows upon rows of teeth, and powerful musculature, the shark has been a staple of many horror and action films and stories through the decades. It is also a well-known fact that sharks have to keep moving to breathe.

What you may not have known, however, is that this applies even when the great white is sleeping. Thanks to being obligate ram ventilators, great white sharks have to keep water moving through and over their gills at all times.

To make up for this, they have a unique way of sleeping. They lie in a current with their mouths open, sleeping while the current pushes through their gills and breathes for them.^[8] That’s like if you had to go on a ventilator every time you needed a nap.

2 Whales

In general, it’s an accepted fact that life started in the sea. Creatures were born, evolved, crawled up on land, and became mammals. Although these critters may have liked being mammals, some of them missed the ocean. Enter: the whale.

The oldest-known ancestor of the whale is the Indohyus, a creature that looked a bit like a spotted anteater. Along the way, this animal returned to the water, evolving new and interesting aquatic traits.^[9]

However, it did not shed its mammalian characteristics. The new fishlike creature, which would eventually become the whale and the dolphin, still needed to breathe air and have lungs instead of gills, both terrible traits to have when you live like a fish.

1 Humans

Ah, humanity. We’re pretty proud of ourselves as a species. Speaking intellectually, we’re fairly solid. Our brains aren’t perfect, but we’re intelligent. After all, we’ve managed to build computers and spacefaring vessels. Our physical form, however, is not good.

For one thing, our feet are made of 26 separate bones—a leftover from our primate days. This makes our feet incredibly fragile and unnervingly easy to damage as they were originally meant for gripping and had the help of our hands in supporting our weight.

Our ankles are also fragile and turn outward at the slightest provocation—to the point that even stepping wrong can sprain or break them. Likewise, our spines are not built for the burden they carry. A myriad of curves and strange proportions lead to back problems as early as our twenties and almost inevitably by our forties or fifties.

We also have the misfortune of giving birth to live young whose heads and torsos are larger than our birth canals are normally equipped to handle and twice as big by proportion as most other animal young. Nearly a full third of human births are now performed via C-sections.^[10]

Deana lives with her girlfriend and a roommate in Small Town, USA. She one day hopes to own a big enough tank for 20 goldfish. Her favorite soup is cream of mushroom.

Most people have wondered what happens after death, and there is no shortage of questions about what, if anything, follows the cessation of bodily function. Is there an afterlife? Will Elvis be there? Will my pets find me?

If the following list is anything to go by, you can be sure that you will meet little Nemo, Doggo, or Kitty again! Hopefully, they won’t be scary like the black dog of Newgate Prison or run around in circles like the chicken ghost of Pond Square. Whatever happens in the Great Hereafter, pray you don’t meet any of these devilish creatures . . . 

10 The Ghost Bear
The Tower Of London

The ghost of a bear is said to haunt the Martin Tower at the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels were once held. One night in 1816, a guard on duty saw a huge bear and lunged at it with his bayonet. At the time, the Tower had its own menagerie that was later moved to the London Zoo and Regent’s Park in the 1830s. He could have thought one of the great bears being held in the menagerie had escaped!

The bayonet went through the bear and was plunged so deep into the wood of the door behind that it took two men to remove it. The apparition faded away after the guard attacked it. The guard fainted from shock and died two days later.^[1]

9 The Phantom Horse Of Bryn-Y-Maen
North Wales

A white horse haunts the back roads of the town of Bryn-y-maen in North Wales. It was seen on two separate occasions by different people, first by a man driving the back roads to avoid being stopped by the police, as his car wasn’t taxed. Dawn had broken, and he was driving toward a dip in the road. Suddenly, a huge white horse came over the hedge, and he thought it would crash through the bonnet of his car: “It filled the windscreen!”^[2] The car spun as he slammed on the brakes, but as he did, the horse vanished.

On the second occasion, a young couple were driving the same road and approaching the dip. Again, the white horse came over the hedge but disappeared as they hit the brakes. A possible explanation, or at least a clue, that has been offered is an account of a large horse skull being found when the road was being repaired, but no one has been able to corroborate this.

8 The Chicken Ghost Of Pond Square
London

One extremely cold day in 1626, Sir Francis Bacon was passing Pond Square in his carriage with a friend. Bacon was arguing his new idea of preserving food, whereby instead of salting meat, it might be possible to keep it so cold that it did not deteriorate. His friend, the king’s physician, didn’t agree, but nevertheless, Bacon obtained a chicken at a local Highgate farm, plucked and cleaned it, and packed it with snow, inside and out. Unfortunately for Bacon, his foray into the cold turned into a bout of pneumonia, which finished him off.

Soon after his death, news of a half-plucked chicken running around at Pond Square was reported. The chicken would allegedly vanish when anyone tried to approach it, and sightings continued throughout the years. For example, in World War II, wardens tried to capture it, but it ran through a wall to escape. Around the same time, a passerby heard what sounded like a coach and horses, but nothing was there to be seen except for a chicken running around in circles. It was also seen in the 1970s by a couple stealing a goodnight kiss in a nearby doorway.^[3]

7 The Merrivale Pigs
Dartmoor

A phantom sow and her piglets have been haunting Merripit Hill for 200 years, as the legend goes.^[4] On misty nights when walking the roads, you might stumble across them making their way to Cator Gate, starving and searching for food. As legend has it, the sow and piglets knew that if they traveled to Cator Gate, they would find a dead horse to eat, but upon their arrival, the horse had already been picked clean by crows.

The pigs are said to speak, too! The piglets cry out, “Skin an’ bones, skin an’ bones!” to which the sow replies, “Let ‘un lie, let ‘un lie.” Back they go, then, over the moor searching for food, only appearing once more when the night is foggy and dark.

6 The White Rabbit Of Thetford Warren Lodge
Norfolk

Thetford Warren Lodge was built on the Brecks, an ancient and wild landscape in Norfolk where prehistoric farmers once kept sheep and rabbits. The lodge was built in the 1400s by nearby monks in Cluniac priory as a residence for the warrener, the man in charge of maintaining and catching rabbits on the Brecks for food and their skins. The Brecks are filled with small rabbit burrows.

One enormous white rabbit with glowing red eyes is said to haunt the lodge and is an omen of death to whoever is unlucky enough to see it.^[5] Perhaps it has something to do with the old leper hospital of St Margaret close by, which was raided for silver and burned to the ground in 1304.

5 The Black Dog Of Newgate Prison
London

Newgate Prison once stood by the Old Bailey and was home to a supernatural hound that was an omen of bad luck.^[6] A prison inmate first wrote about the hound in 1596 and recounted that during a terrible famine in London, the prison inmates had turned to cannibalism to stay alive. A scholar was imprisoned at this time, having been accused of witchcraft, and no sooner had he arrived than he was overpowered by the stronger men and eaten.

Shortly afterward, the inmates began seeing a large, black dog roaming the dark corridors, and one by one, each man who had eaten the scholar was hunted down and torn apart by the beast. When the number had dwindled to only a handful of remaining men who had eaten the scholar, they were deranged with fear and broke out of the prison to escape. It is said that no man really escaped, however, and those last murderers were found by the dog and met the same fate as their fellow inmates.

4 The Demon Cat Of Capitol Hill
Washington, DC

The Capitol Building in Washington, DC, has witnessed some incredible history being made, but some might say not so incredible as the demon cat said to walk the halls at night. During the post-Civil War era, the night watchmen began seeing a black cat that would grow in size as it walked toward them.^[7] One man said that it grew to be as big as a tiger, and when it leaped at him to attack, he brought up his arms in fear of being savaged. But when he fell down and didn’t feel the weight of the cat, he lowered his arms and realized it had disappeared.

Could such stories be just the drunken ramblings of the night watchmen, who were probably just reprobate friends of powerful men who needed an easy job? You might think so, except that when concrete was poured to replace some flooring after a gas explosion in 1898, six to eight perfect paw prints were found indented in it.

3 The Black Cat Of The Hellfire Club
Ireland

Just outside of Dublin in the Wicklow mountains is the Hellfire Club, a hunting lodge that was placed right on top of an ancient burial mound. It’s said that Speaker Conolly, the builder of the lodge, used the standing stone from the cairn as the lintel. The club itself, founded by Richard Parsons in 1735, was known for Satanism and the members practicing black magic. Cats (and some say servants) were sacrificed to the Devil.

One famous story tells of a local visitor to the area went one night to see the lodge, the place that had such an intriguing and mysterious reputation. He was found dead the next morning, and his host thought with horror that he must have been murdered at the Hellfire Club during the night. He went with the local priest to find out what had happened. When they arrived at the Hellfire Club, they found a great banquet laid out and a black cat stalking the room. It was huge, and its ears were shaped like horns. The priest threw holy water over the cat, an act which tore it into pieces. When the priest went outside, he found the dead man’s host lying on the grass with his neck and face scratched deeply by what could only be powerful claws.^[8]

2 The Ghost Dog Of Airth Castle
Scotland

Airth Castle dates back centuries and has an even older graveyard just outside. As if that wasn’t enough, the place is packed full of ghosts! One of the most famous is a dog that will nip at your ankles if you’re not watching out for him.^[9] Maybe little Rex belonged to one of the children who burned to death with their nanny in the 1800s, or could he have been the groundsman’s little helper?

1 The Owl At Arundel Castle
Sussex

Arundel Castle officially opened on Christmas Day in 1067. Home to many royals and noblemen, it has been connected to such famous faces as Richard the Lionheart and King Henry II.

As well as a respectable amount of ghosts of the human variety, one apparition sometimes seen is a white owl that flies around the windows of the castle.^[10] Every time it has been seen, someone who lived in the castle or was linked to the building and its inhabitants died under mysterious circumstances. Hedwig never got this kind of press!

Alexa is a writer and lumberjack from Dublin, Ireland.

Nonliving objects and animals are not always safe from litigation. Over the years, people have sued animals and even inanimate objects like puppets. In turn, people have been sued by animals and nonhuman objects.

Obviously, lawsuits of this nature aren’t actually filed by animals or nonliving things but by people or groups. While the following court cases are bizarre, hilarious, or both, they show just how far people will go to get justice.

10 Musician Loses Court Battle Against Puppet

South African musician Steve Hofmeyr holds the rare distinction of having lost a court case to a puppet. The puppet in question is Chester Missing, which is owned by South African ventriloquist and comedian Conrad Koch (pictured above with Chester).

The whole thing began in November 2014, when Hofmeyr blamed black people for apartheid. Koch replied in a series of tweets he posted on his personal Twitter page and Missing’s Twitter page in which he criticized Hofmeyr over his racist statement. One of his messages urged Hofmeyr’s sponsors to cancel their contracts with the musician.

Hofmeyr requested for a protection order against Koch and Missing over what he called threats and harassment. However, he failed to receive the order when a court determined that Koch and Missing had done nothing wrong and could tweet about Hofmeyr. The court also ordered Hofmeyr to pay Koch and Missing’s attorney fees.

Koch quickly returned to making tweets about Hofmeyr, who he called “Racistboy.” The less-than-amused Hofmeyr accused the courts of siding with the comedian and his puppet.^[1]

9 Kansas Sues A Toyota Truck And Loses

In 2018, the state of Kansas lost a lawsuit against a Toyota pickup truck. Sergeant Christopher Ricard of the Geary County Sheriff’s Department stopped the truck over a partially obscured traffic plate. However, he impounded it when Scooby, his police dog, sniffed out 11.9 grams of marijuana hidden inside the vehicle. Sergeant Ricard also found $84,000 in cash.

The state filed to seize the vehicle and money. Considering that it was a civil forfeiture case, the state listed the truck, money, and marijuana as defendants instead of the two men driving it. However, the court determined that the state could not legally seize the truck and money because Sergeant Ricard had illegally extended the stop to allow Scooby to sniff the vehicle.^[2]

8 Police Dog Wins Lawsuit Filed By A Burglar It Bit

On July 6, 2013, a Georgia man named Randall Kevin Jones broke into his ex’s home and stole several items, including her television, camera, and game console. The unnamed ex called the police after spotting Jones leaving her home. Officers from the Gwinnett County Police Department responded to the scene.

The police found Jones and ordered him to surrender. Jones didn’t and started to run. He continued running, even after an officer threatened to send a police dog after him. The officer ultimately unleashed the dog, named Draco. Draco bit Jones, sending him falling into a ravine. Jones required some stitches for his injuries.

Two years later, Jones sued the police department for “excessive use of force.” As defendants, he named at least three officers and the dog, which was listed as “Officer K-9 Draco of the Gwinnett County Police Department in his individual capacity.” Jones claimed Officer K-9 Draco bit him “for what seemed like a lifetime.” He also claimed the officers watched and didn’t try to get Draco off him as this was happening.

Gwinnet County tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, but a federal judge rejected this, so the county appealed. Finally, Judge Robin Rosenbaum of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw the case out, saying, “We hold that a dog may not be sued individually for negligence since a dog is not a person.” She added that dogs cannot be issued a subpoena, cannot get an attorney, and cannot pay damages if found guilty.^[3]

7 Judge Stops Horse From Suing Its Owner

In 2018, a horse in Oregon sued its owner for neglect. It requested $100,000 in damages. However, a judge threw the case out because horses cannot sue their owners, or anybody for that matter. The horse itself did not file the lawsuit, though. The Animal Legal Defense Fund did on its behalf.

The horse, named Justice, was owned by Gwendolyn Vercher, who had left it outside in the cold. Justice was hungry, thirsty, and underweight by 136 kilograms (300 lb) at the time it was rescued. It also suffered from frostbite. Vercher was charged with neglect of an animal and paid for the horse’s treatment.

However, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed the lawsuit because Justice could need money for further treatment. The court ruled the horse could not file the lawsuit because otherwise, courts would soon be filled with animals suing their owners. Gwendolyn Vercher said the lawsuit was “outrageous.”^[4]

6 Aborted Fetus Sues Abortion Clinic

In March 2019, Ryan Magers sued the Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville, Alabama, for aborting his unborn child. Also listed as defendants were the company that made the pill used for the abortion, the doctor who did the abortion, and every organization the doctor worked with.

Ryan Magers called the fetus Baby Roe. He claimed his girlfriend aborted Baby Roe in February 2017. She was six weeks pregnant at the time and went ahead with the abortion after he refused. Magers said he filed the lawsuit because he wants the law to protect fathers of unborn children.

For now, the law allows the mother to abort the baby without any consideration from the father. The lawsuit has raised eyebrows among feminists and pro-abortion advocates. The case is currently ongoing.^[5]

5 Monkey Selfie Ends In A Win For Photographer

In 2008, photographer David Slater encountered a troop of crested black macaques while taking pictures at an Indonesian wildlife park. While he concentrated on shooing some curious monkeys, others snuck to his camera, which was on a tripod, and started to click on the shutter.

The monkeys took hundreds of pictures, some of which included Slater. However, the most popular was a selfie taken by a monkey that pressed on the shutter. What followed was a bizarre copyright battle between Slater and the monkey, which was named Naruto.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claimed that Naruto owned the copyright to the picture. Slater insisted that he owned the copyright and not Naruto. In 2015, PETA filed a copyright lawsuit on behalf of Naruto. In 2017, PETA agreed to dump the lawsuit on the condition that Slater gave them 25 percent of the royalties he received from the images.

However, in 2018, a court stopped PETA from settling the lawsuit because it wanted to pass judgment that would allow judges to decide over similar incidents in the future. The court ruled that animals cannot file or own copyrights. This effectively gave copyright ownership to Slater.^[6]

4 Wheelchair Thief Sues Police Dog

On April 23, 2015, 55-year-old Stanley McQuery broke into the Hillcrest, San Diego, home of 79-year-old William Ballard. He attacked Ballard and stole his phone and electric wheelchair. He also demanded money. The police were called in.

Officers found McQuery in the neighborhood. For some reason, his getaway vehicle was Ballard’s wheelchair, which traveled at a pitiable 3.2 kilometers per hour (2 mph). The police sent a dog after McQuery after he refused orders to stop. McQuery was ultimately sentenced to 16 years in prison because he already had three felony convictions.

In 2016, McQuery sued the police dog for “excessive force, assault and battery” while in prison. He demanded $7 million in compensation. He claimed he was already on the ground at the time the officer set the dog on him. He added that the officer told the dog, “Eat him up, eat him up.”

McQuery later claimed he made a mistake by naming the dog as a defendant. He said he loved dogs and never planned to sue a dog. However, this does not explain the fact that he listed the dog as a defendant twice.^[7]

3 Monkey Gets Charged With Assault For Attacking Woman

On November 29, 1877, The New York Times reported that one Ms. Mary Shea lost a lawsuit against Jimmy Dillio, a monkey owned by one Mr. Casslo Dillio. Trouble began for Jimmy when Mr. Dillio took him to Ms. Shea’s shop. Shea offered Jimmy a piece of candy, which he accepted while chattering in appreciation.

However, Jimmy turned violent and bit Ms. Shea’s finger when she playfully attempted to retrieve the candy. Mrs. Shea got Mr. Dillio and Jimmy arrested and taken to court. Judge Flammer threw the case out, saying the that court could not charge monkeys. Jimmy reportedly exhibited some gentlemanly behavior by doffing his hat after Judge Flammer delivered the decision.^[8]

2 Woman Attempts To Get Monkeys Charged With Sexual Assault

In 2015, 23-year-old Melissa Hart tried getting a pair of monkeys arrested and charged with sexual assault while he was visiting Gibraltar. She was watching the Barbary macaques when two of them attacked her without warning.

The monkeys scratched her with their paws, pulled at her clothes and hair, and removed her bikini top. She screamed for help during the attack, but nearby tourists just laughed. She was saved when a warden chased the monkeys away.

A startled, embarrassed, and angry Ms. Hart reported the incident to the police and tried to file charges against the monkeys. The officers turned down her request because monkeys are wild animals and cannot be charged. One officer even asked her if she could identify the monkeys in a police lineup.^[9]

1 Man Sues Police Dog After He Was Bitten

In 2018, 66-year-old Joseph Carr of Oregon sued a police dog named Rolo and its handler, Deputy Jason Bernards of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, because Rolo bit him. Rolo bit Carr on September 18, 2016, as Carr attended the opening of a store.

Carr met Deputy Bernards and Rolo standing at the entrance of the store. Bernards told Rolo to “say hi,” which Carr took as an invitation to pet the dog. However, Rolo bit Carr in the abdomen when Carr touched the canine’s ear and head. Carr sued for $50,000 in damages.

Deputy Bernards claimed that Carr was bitten because he wrapped his hands around the dog’s snout. However, Carr’s attorney, Brian Hefner, noted that surveillance footage shows that Carr only touched the dog’s head and ear. Carr said the bite scar constantly reminds him of the “horrific and unnecessary event.”^[10]

Fantasy movies often conjure the most fantastic make-belief creatures. But one need not look to fiction to find creatures so surreal that they beggar belief. Earth’s natural world has a sense of humor—there are giant versions of normal species and spiders that look like rabbits.

In the darker corners, fish suddenly melt and large creepy crustaceans burrow into corpses. That aside, rainbow squirrels and ghostly tubes longer than a bus also prove that the world’s most surreal animals are also among the most glorious.

10 White Whale

When Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851, the story about the white whale became a classic. The pale cetaceans are not pure invention. For instance, Galon de Leche (“Milk Gallon”), an albino whale, is a local celebrity off the coast of Mexico.

There have been several sightings of a white whale in the area, but nobody knows if it is the same animal or different individuals. However, they are rare. In 2003, a pure-white calf was allegedly seen. Unfortunately, there exists no photographic evidence to back up the encounter.

Milk Gallon first received its name when researchers found the albino gray whale in 2008 and again in 2016, this time with a normal-colored calf by its side. The most recent sighting happened in 2019 when a whale-watching guide saw a white gray whale breach near the Baja California coast, Mexico.^[1]

Manuel Gonzalez was savvy enough to record footage of the animal. He did not repeat the mistake of the crew who possibly sighted Milk Gallon as a calf in 2003.

9 Stiletto Snakes

In 2019, researchers looked under rocks and plants in the forests of Guinea and Liberia. They were rewarded with a new species of snake. They found three of the unassuming brown creatures, which proved to be hairy foes.

The new guy turned out to be a member of a group known as stiletto snakes. Forget about picking them up the usual way. Grasping behind the head with one’s fingers could end with a snakebite. Stilettos have a unique ability: They can deliver a poisonous stab without opening their maws.

Special fangs grow from their mouth corners, allowing the snake to stab sideways. As the Guinea-Liberia scientists found out for themselves, the reptiles also lunge distances equal to their own body length.^[2]

Luckily, stilettos are not fatal. The bad news is that their venom is cytotoxic (a substance that destroys cells). The snakes pack a potent amount, and without the correct antivenom, a bitten hand risks losing a few fingers.

8 Melting Fish

In 2018, a scientific expedition plunged 7.5 kilometers (4.7 mi) into the Atacama Trench. Located off the coast of Peru, it is one of the deepest places in the sea. Footage captured three new species of snailfish.

Despite the depth, there were plenty of invertebrates and the snailfish appeared to be the top, well-fed predator of the bunch. This was quite remarkable considering that the pressure down there would destroy a human. That is also what happened in reverse when scientists tried to bring the fish to the surface.

As it turned out, what people perceive as normal surface pressure was deadly to the creatures. To survive the depths, the snailfish evolved a squishy body with almost no structural pieces. The most substantial parts were their teeth and inner ear bones.

This soft fragility made the snailfish remarkably tough but only at a depth where they were kept together by the high pressures. When a few were caught and brought to the surface, they disintegrated so rapidly that it looked like they melted.^[3]

7 The Lagoon Blob

In 2017, something weird surfaced in British Columbia. It resembled a brain crossed with a bowl of jelly. Scientists removed it from a lagoon in Vancouver, but this was no wayward movie monster. The gelatinous goop was a group of microscopic creatures called zooids.

In scientific jargon, the brain-like colony is a bryozoan and the lagoon case was identified as Pectinatella magnifica. This type has never been seen in the area before. All known samples came from east of the Mississippi River.^[4]

This added fuel to the debate trying to settle whether the creatures are an invasive species. Their muddy color often makes the colony look like river rocks or turns them invisible in dark water. Indeed, the Vancouver bryozoan was only spotted because water levels dropped enough to make it visible.

They could have been overlooked all these years or recently invaded beyond their borders due to climate change, as some suggest. Either way, the wobbly balls are ancient survivors. The fossil record shows that zooid colonies go back 470 million years.

6 Football-Size Isopods

Isopods belong to the crustacean clan, just like crabs and lobsters. In 2019, scientists caught the creatures on camera during an experiment. The team wanted to find out what scavengers trotted closer when a big piece of meat fell to the bottom of the sea. In this case, the piece was an entire alligator.

Once it hit the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico, it did not take long for the isopods to emerge. Each was roughly the size of a football. They were a sickly pale color and resembled lobsters. The weird look was outclassed by their gory behavior. Within 24 hours, several had burrowed halfway into the alligator’s stomach to eat the reptile from the inside out.^[5]

The crustaceans’ slick ability to get through the alligator’s thick skin surprised the researchers. Then again, isopods are known for their strangeness. The nightmarish creatures can go for years without food.

Perhaps with that in mind, isopods gorge themselves whenever the opportunity presents. Case in point: When one tried swimming away from the alligator, it dropped to the seafloor like an anvil, too stuffed to move properly.

5 Blue Lobster

In all his years as a lobsterman, Robin Russell had never seen anything like it. When he checked his traps in 2017, there was a blue lobster between the usual brown ones. The creature also had areas with faded pink and periwinkle, giving it a mild rainbow look.

Called “Lucky,” the crustacean avoided the dinner plate and found a home at a science center. Lucky might be an eye-popping sight, but blue lobsters turn up every few years. In fact, lobster coloration is rather mercurial. A pigment called astaxanthin changes color depending on its amount, outside influences, or how astaxanthin contorts.

Usually, lobsters are brown. They only develop the bright red that fine diners know so well when boiling water messes with the pigment. Lucky and his blue brethren remain mysterious. Researchers think the reasons might include low levels of astaxanthin.^[6]

When completely removed from their diet, lobsters turn white. A genetic mutation might also be responsible. In the past, mutations produced some funky lobsters—brilliant yellows, a calico with dots, and lobsters with a two-toned split look.

4 An Enormous Bee

Alfred Russel Wallace found a giant bee. The serious-looking black creature was four times the size of a honeybee. This was in 1858, and for over a century, the so-called Wallace’s giant bee vanished.

Thought to be extinct, it made a comeback in 1981 when an entomologist found six nests scattered throughout the Bacan Islands. After this sighting, the enormous buzzers disappeared again.

In 2019, a team of scientists scoured Indonesian islands in search of the world’s largest bee. The expedition reached its final day when a local guide spotted the nest. It was already known that Wallace bees nested inside termite mounds, but none inspected by the team had yielded any of the creatures.

This mound was in a forest in North Maluku and contained a queen Wallace. The photos and video of her were the first taken of the species. Her wingspan measured 6 centimeters (2.5 in) long, and the creature had massive mandibles.^[7]

The bees may keep disappearing because the region is exceptionally remote.

3 Arachnid With Rabbit Head

Scientist Andreas Kay browsed Ecuador’s Amazon rain forest in 2017. He encountered a tiny creature with a really odd look. The photographs showed something resembling a spider with a black bunny’s head. As bizarre and new as it looked, the species had been discovered in 1959.

About the size of a thumbnail, it was also not a spider but a harvestman. This type of arachnid is more popularly known as a “daddy longlegs.” Unfortunately, researchers don’t have much information about this particular species which is known as the bunny harvestman.

Little research has been done on the creature’s unique body shape, despite being known for decades. However, the rabbit look probably has an important purpose. The two false ears and false yellow eyes could be a way to deter predators.^[8]

Whatever the reason, harvestmen are exceptionally successful as a group. There are thousands of species, and they are older than the dinosaurs.

2 Rainbow Squirrel

In 2019, an amateur photographer uploaded images of a squirrel to Instagram. They were a smash hit. This was no ordinary squirrel. The animal appeared to have been dyed in sections or perhaps digitally altered.

The good news is that the rainbow-colored rodent is 100 percent organic. Called Malabar giant squirrels, they hug trees in the Indian peninsula. This particular specimen was a beautiful example of their bright fur that could include orange, purple, and indigo.

Sadly, not every Malabar has a technicolor dreamcoat. It is more common to see animals with different shades of brown like beige, rust, and tan. Either way, both could play a role in camouflage and looking good for the opposite gender.

The creatures are also impressively large. Measuring about 1 meter (3 ft) long, they rarely leave the safety of high branches. When they feel like traveling to the next tree, they launch their bright bulk up to 6 meters (20 ft) through the air.^[9]

1 Pyrosoma Colony

In 2018, divers filmed underwater scenes near White Island in New Zealand. Suddenly, they were surprised by a ghostly creature. The ribbonlike tube measured 8 meters (26 ft) long. It looked like a giant worm.

However, the floating feature was a colony of creatures called tunicates. These plankton-nibbling critters look like tiny rods but are complex organisms with spinal cords. Their ability to clone means that the “ribbon” can live forever.

A single colony is also known as a pyrosome and can grow as long as 18 meters (60 ft). This made the New Zealand case one of the smaller tunicate villages. The largest “cities” are often built by a species called Pyrosoma spinosum. Not only do they make the most breathtakingly long pyrosomes, but the bioluminescent variety of tunicates also turn the colony into a glowing wonderland.^[10]

The Land Down Under. Sweltering heat and a menagerie of obscure and bizarre creatures has led the smallest continent in the world to be considered a land of danger and death. Tales of man-eating sharks that put Jaws to shame, poisonous spiders that inhabit shoes, and crocodiles that resemble the dinosaurs that once walked the Earth are rooted in tradition. Yet, one cannot help but wonder: Just how dangerous are these creatures?

In the following list, with no particular order, we will attempt to dispel the notion that Australia’s fauna are simply creatures to be avoided at all costs. Rather, they’re the victims of media hype. Please comment with any creatures you feel were missed, or share your own stories of encounters with them.

10 Blue-Ringed Octopus

Perhaps the most unassuming creature on the list, merely the size of a pencil, the blue-ringed octopus has gained notoriety for its vivid coloration and paralyzing toxins. Often cited as an example for the adage “Everything in Australia Can Kill You,” these cephalopods have, in fact, garnered a reputation far exceeding their exploits.

Despite the strength of their toxins, only three deaths can be attributed to the octopuses’ bite, one of which did not even occur in Australia.^[1] Note, however, that being bitten is still a serious matter and potentially fatal. So, spare a thought for the solitary creatures, and make sure you keep your hands to yourself when exploring tide pools.

9 Sharks

If Finding Nemo has taught us anything, it’s that one whiff of blood sends sharks into a murderous feeding frenzy. And there is some truth to that. Sharks are apex predators which will bite everything from unsuspecting fish to intrusive surfers. In fact, the likelihood of being attacked and killed by a shark is higher in Australia (the land of beaches and sun) than it is in any other country. How likely, you ask? Well, statistically, the odds of being attacked by a shark are one in 2,794,600, according to reports.

Those aren’t the worst odds, one must concede, especially when faced with the knowledge that over 70 people died between the years of 2008 and 2017 at the hands (hooves?) of horses and cows, compared to only 26 fatalities by sharks and other marine animals.^[2] In fact, on average, only two people are fatally attacked by sharks in Australia per year. So, when in Australia, make sure you enjoy the beach, but always remember to swim between the flags!

8 Redback Spider

Nothing sends chills up one’s spine more than the thought of eight skeletal legs crawling their way across your skin, and this nightmare is very much a reality for many Australians. Approximately 2,700 spider species have been formally described on the continent, which is not even a third of the estimated extant species. Of these species, one of the most recognized and prevalent is the redback spider, so named for the distinctive red stripe on its abdomen. This creature inhabits urban areas, often found in garden sheds or similarly undisturbed locations, where it uses the toxins in its venom to subdue insects.

This venom is strong enough to kill humans who are unfortunate enough to get bitten, though there were no deaths in Australia from confirmed spider bites from 1979 to 2016.^[3] As is the case with most spiders, even the venomous redbacks are harmless unless provoked or disturbed, and they’re more likely to attempt to flee the threat or even play dead, as opposed to biting.

7 Cassowary

The formidable-looking cassowary is arguably less well-known compared to other creatures on this list. This imposing bird hails from the same family as the ostrich and emu, standing up to 2 meters (6.6 ft) tall and weighing as much as 76 kilograms (168 lb). Of the three species, only the southern cassowary lives in Australia, where it inhabits dense rainforests, avoiding potential threats and existing, primarily, off berries and seeds.

Yet despite its solitary and mainly frugivorous nature, the bird possesses a dagger-like claw on its feet that can grow up to 13 centimeters (5 in) in length and can be wielded with potentially fatal results, making it one of only a handful of birds to have been directly responsible for a recorded fatality.^[4] Nevertheless, fatalities are relatively rare, although one recently occurred in Florida. Remember that most wild animals will avoid humans, rather than engage with them.

6 Saltwater Crocodiles

The estuarine, or saltwater, crocodile is the largest crocodilian in the world, growing between 4.6 and 5.2 meters (15–17 ft) on average, with some male specimens reaching 7 meters (23 ft)! The crocodiles’ habitat is widespread, stretching over much of Northern Australia, where it grows to such staggering sizes on a diet consisting of anything from fish and turtles to buffalo and livestock.

The “saltie” is also notorious for its reputation as a man-eater, though such rogue animals have been reported more often in Asian countries such as Malaysia. Yet, despite having been responsible for 14 deaths in the Northern Territory between 2005 and 2014,^[5] saltwater crocodiles aren’t known to attack humans unless their territory is encroached upon.

5 Sydney Funnel-Web Spider

What creature has eight legs, can grow to have a 10-centimeter (4 in) leg span, and looks like it belongs on the set of a horror movie? If you answered a funnel-web spider, you’d be right. Of the 35 species of funnel-web, the most dangerous to humans is the Sydney funnel-web, found in urban and garden areas in and around Sydney and often encountered in shoes that have been left outside overnight. Within the species, the male spiders are notably more dangerous, reputed to inject a venom six times more potent than their female counterparts.

The secret ingredient is a toxin dubbed “robustoxin,” which attacks the nervous system and, according to arachnid curator Dr. Robert Raven, can kill a human in less than 15 minutes. However, despite the apparent danger toward humans, and the strength of their venom, Sydney funnel-webs can only be held responsible for 13 recorded fatalities, with no deaths occurring since the introduction of an antivenom in 1981.^[6] As with most species on the list, if we simply exercise caution and common sense, we can easily avoid harm.

4 Dingo

As Australia’s largest mammalian carnivore—standing about the height of a medium dog—the dingo has become a tourist attraction in its native country. Most prevalent along the eastern and southern coastlines and throughout Central Australia,^[7] dingoes have long held a place in the folklore of Australia’s traditional owners, commonly referenced in Dreamtime stories. With their naturally inquisitive nature, interactions between humans and dingoes have become commonplace, as many zoos and sanctuaries have begun to offer close-quarters experiences. However, in the wild, the same result is not often achieved. As is the case with many fatal wildlife encounters, encroaching upon the dingo’s natural habitat has been the cause of both recorded deaths from the species.

Perhaps most famous is the death of Azaria Chamberlain, a nine-week-old baby snatched by a dingo while on vacation with her family, an incident which became a worldwide-publicized murder case in the early 1980s. The only other fatal attack occurred in 2001, when nine-year-old Clinton Gage was mauled and killed by a dingo on Fraser Island, a popular tourist attraction due to its population of “pure” dingo packs. Yet, for a creature that has become a scapegoat for human foolishness, two deaths seems an almost unexpectedly low number, as tourism and lack of food continues to lead to aggression within a usually curious native species.

3 Cone Snail

Probably the most aesthetically pleasing creature on this list, the cone snail (also known as the cone shell) appears, at first glance, to be no more than a patterned shell. Inhabiting warm waters throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans (with around 166 species thought to inhabit Australian waters), the predatory snails propel barbed, venom-coated darts at the small fish and worms that make up its diet.

Although the toxins are designed to paralyze its prey before it is consumed, some of the larger species can prove harmful even to humans, with the venom’s toxicity compared to that of a snake. Despite the potential danger of the creatures and their deceptive appearance, only 36 people have been fatally stabbed in the past 90 years,^[8] with only one of these occurring in waters surrounding Australia. Cone snails are nevertheless a potentially deadly reminder not to touch the wildlife.

2 Stonefish

Taking the next spot on our list is another ambush predator, commonly found in the waters off the eastern coast of Australia. As its name suggests, the stonefish resembles a mossy rock on the seabed as it lies in wait for an unwary fish to pass by. Similar to the fish whose paths diverge with the predator, any human unfortunate enough to tread on the stonefish’s back will receive a nasty shock. Thirteen spines lining the dorsal fin are raised when pressure is placed upon them, injecting a highly toxic venom into any would-be attackers.

So strong is its venom that the stonefish has been handed the dubious honor of being the most venomous fish in the world.^[9] However, the introduction of antivenom in 1959 and a rise in public awareness have ensured no recorded Australian deaths in recent times, though stings are relatively common. And If this and the previous entry weren’t enough to convince you never to step foot in the water again, just see what’s next . . .

1 Stingrays

While some creatures on this list may seem, in name or appearance, to be unassuming, the same is not true for the horrifyingly named stingray, containing such families as the thorntail and whiptail stingrays. Although these flat marine animals can grow quite large, reaching several meters in length and hundreds of kilograms in weight, they live on a diet of mollusks and crustaceans, which they hunt on the sea floor. When threatened, however, the rays can lash out with a tail spine, stabbing and injecting venom.

While their presence attracts divers all over the world, Australians will most likely remember the role a stingray played in the death of beloved wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin, who was fatally stabbed while filming a documentary in Queensland in 2006. Although Irwin’s death was one of only two fatal attacks in Australia since 1945, nonfatal attacks are very common, though easily avoided, with NSW Ambulance reporting 116 incidents between late 2013 and late 2016.^[10]

A recent high-school graduate living in Australia, born and raised in England, who loves reading, writing and sports.

One of mankind’s greatest wishes is to live without the worry of old age. Fountains of youth and mythological sources of longevity are common in our legends and fairy tales, but each of us progresses slowly, aging toward our eventual end. Still, we wish for something different.

As a sort of bitter joke, we can look to some of the other creatures on Earth and find that they have what we wish for. Some refer to these animals, perhaps mistakenly, as biologically immortal. But they can die. The difference is in how they arrive there—without ever growing old as we do. Rather, they keep their youthful vigor right up until some other means takes them.

Here are 10 animals that do not die of old age or can halt the process.

10 Marine Sponges

As far as multicellular animals go, marine sponges are as simple as they come. They don’t possess the common elements that other animals (like us) have in abundance. They have no internal organs, digestive tracts, or nervous and muscular systems.

Yet a marine sponge specimen has been found to be at least 11,000 years old, with some studies suggesting the potential life span of these creatures to be in the hundreds of thousands of years. The key to their longevity may lie in their simplicity.

Andrey Lavrov and Igor Kosevich, biologists who studied marine sponges’ abilities, found that when the sponges were subjected to tissue dissociation (by mechanically or chemically separating the cells from one another), the sponges were able to re-form into their original shape.

The biologists reported, “In a number of cases, such multicellular aggregates may result in a full reconstruction of an animal’s initial organization.” These amazing regenerative abilities render these creatures nearly ageless.^[1]

9 Planaria (Flatworm)

Our school classes taught us about the special regenerative powers of the flatworms, unassuming creatures that harbor the ability to regrow into two healthy flatworms if cut in half. Recently, a lab at MIT performed an experiment that regrew an entire flatworm from a single cell. But one cause of this remarkable feat may not have been mentioned in our high school classes.

Dr. Aziz Aboobaker of The University of Nottingham commented:

Usually when stem cells divide—to heal wounds or during reproduction or for growth—they start to show signs of aging. This means that the stem cells are no longer able to divide and so become less able to replace exhausted specialized cells in the tissues of our bodies. [ . . . ] Planarian worms and their stem cells are somehow able to avoid the aging process and to keep their cells dividing.

Due to this cellular youth, flatworms defy aging, making it difficult to accurately measure a flatworm’s life span.^[2]

8 Bdelloid Rotifers

These small—1 millimeter (0.04 in) or less—creatures can be found the world over in any body of water but also in such homes as mosses and lichen. In general, they live for about 30 days. Hardly ageless, so why their place on our list?

These microscopic animals have a powerful ability to stop their bodily functions in times of crisis, such as starvation or dehydration, and suspend their own aging process. In fact, this prolonged time of inactivity can be longer then their normal life span.

Some bdelloid rotifers could last 40 days while starving and then pick up again with their normal life spans as if the 40-day period had never happened. This would be like finding humans who could go without eating for 100 years without aging a day the entire time. Once food was available again, they would pick up aging where they left off and live a normal life from then on.^[3]

7 Hydra

This creature is only about 2.5 centimeters (1 in) high and treelike. To understand its place on our list, we need to understand the concept of senescence, which is the increase in mortality rate as a creature gets older.

For example, humans are more likely to die the older we get. However, the Hydra does not have this increase in mortality. (Except for one species, Hydra oligactis. Sorry, buddy.)

They accomplish this feat using three distinct types of stem cells, which are initially undifferentiated and can eventually become many different specialized cell types. These stem cells are actively renewing the body of the Hydra and thus fighting off any aging process that could lower their mortality rate.

In a laboratory setting, it’s estimated that 5 percent of Hydra could live up to 1,400 years using this process.^[4]

6 Ocean Quahog Clam

This marine bivalve mollusk is special because it is exceptionally easy to determine the creature’s age. Like a tree, its life span is recorded in the growth rings of its shell. Even more, those rings offer insight into its life—with wide rings showing a year of plentiful food and narrow rings showing a scarcer time.

Due to this trait, one ocean quahog was dated to 507 years old—the oldest of its kind ever found. This would put its original birthday sometime in 1499.

The secret to this longevity is linked to the quahog’s unusually thin production of reactive oxygen species, which are unstable and oxygen-holding molecules (aka free radicals). Buildup of these molecules can cause damage to DNA, RNA, and proteins and result in cell death.

Due to the quahog’s attenuated amount of these reactive oxygen species, it is able to fight off a common source of aging and live for many centuries. The 507-year-old quahog, named Ming, only met its end because it was frozen after its capture to allow researchers to properly determine its age. In all likelihood, it could have lived for much longer.^[5]

5 Lobster

Often caught to be eaten as delicacies, these bottom-feeding ocean animals have indeterminate growth, which means they have no maximum size. As a result, the longer a lobster lives, the bigger it will get—with no biological process to halt that growth.

The heaviest lobster ever caught was a little over 20 kilograms (44 lb). It was found off the coast of Nova Scotia. Estimates of these animals’ life span range from 50 to 100 years—not much different from that of humans. But the fascinating thing about lobsters is how they age and die. They show no loss of appetite, sex drive, energy, or metabolism as they get older.

However, lobsters do make it hard to measure their age. They grow in a process of molting, where they shed their entire exoskeleton. After each molting, all hard surfaces of the animal are discarded. So there is nothing left that can be aged with accuracy.

It is that process of molting that eventually kills them and not the usual aging process that humans face. The larger a lobster becomes, the more dangerous molting is and the more energy it takes.^[6]

Eventually, a large lobster will no longer be able to survive the process or even muster up enough energy to begin it, thanks to its giant size. If this hurdle were somehow removed, there’s no telling how long these creatures could live.

4 Midland Painted Turtle

Although many turtles show a long life span and lack of senescence, Blanding’s turtles and midland painted turtles have a seemingly backward take on aging. The elderly females lay even more eggs than their younger counterparts and die at a lower rate. They become more likely to keep living with age.

The longevity of the entire turtle family is impressive. One giant tortoise lived to at least 250 in the Calcutta zoo. Dr. Christopher J. Raxworthy from the American Museum of Natural History said plainly, “Turtles don’t really die of old age.” Instead, the internal organs of elderly turtles are almost identical to those of their teenage counterparts.^[7]

This impressive life span is also shown in how slowly female turtles reach sexual maturity—only after 40 or 50 years in some species. Dr. Raxworthy added that if it weren’t for getting crushed by an automobile or falling prey to a disease, a turtle could live indefinitely.

3 Turritopsis Dohrnii (Jellyfish)

Imagine that we could decide on a whim to reverse our aging at any point in our lives. Our hair would get less gray, our wrinkles would disappear, our bodies would get stronger, and our metabolism would increase. We’d be like teenagers again and then like children and, finally, like babies.

Then we’d start aging again from the beginning, living our lives a second time none the worse for wear. This is the exact situation of the Turritopsis dohrnii, the immortal jellyfish. At any point in its life, the jellyfish can reverse aging in a process known as transdifferentiation, revert to its earliest form, and then continue living from there. So far as we know, this process can continue without end.

This mechanism can be triggered by anything from mutilation to old age, starvation, or disease. If left to their own devices, these jellyfish will rejuvenate about 10 times over the course of two years.

Sometimes, these events happen less than a month apart. Also a proficient hitchhiker, this everlasting jellyfish has spread to every ocean in the world by hitching rides on cargo boats.^[8]

2 Bristlecone Pine Trees

These gnarly and knotted trees look anything but ageless. Their lifetime seems evident in their shape, with branches twisting in and around on themselves like the bony fingers of an old man.

Inside, though, is a life-form of incredible sturdiness. The bristlecone pine measures its life not in centuries but in millennia. The oldest one discovered is estimated to be over 5,000 years old.

The exact location of this tree and other exceptionally old bristlecone pines is kept a secret to keep them safe from intentional or accidental damage. Dated to be just under 5,000 years old, another bristlecone pine named Prometheus was cut down in the same area.

This pine’s wood is dense and resinous, giving it natural defenses against threats like fungi and insects. Even if the tree does die, its dead form holds on strong for centuries and is kept upright by its roots.^[9]

1 Pando Tree Colony

Its name means “I spread” in Latin, and it’s also known as “the trembling giant.” This massive organism defies all expectations. It is a grove of quaking aspens, named for the sound the leaves make at even the slightest flutter of wind.

Pando is a colony of trees spread across 100 acres of land, and every tree there is the same organism. This is because quaking aspen trees reproduce mainly by sprouting new trees from an already existing root system. A single organism can have many tree trunks sprouting out of the ground.

Pando has 47,000 trunks. The individual trunks only persist for 100 to 150 years or so, but Pando as a whole has been estimated to be at least 80,000 years old with optimistic estimates at one million years old. This everlasting grove is among the oldest and largest living creatures on our planet and weighs some 6 million kilograms (13 million lb).^[10]