Evolution is a trip in more ways than one. That life can adapt to its environment, to make a series of improvements to help it thrive in the world is amazing. Even more incredible is the way the same destination can be reached from different starting points.

It makes sense that more than one creature may evolve to have a certain ability like camouflage or venom. But sometimes nature goes even further than that. Sometimes the same thing will evolve in totally different organisms that have nothing to do with each other.

10. Nature Loves Making Crabs

It can never be overstated how much nature loves crabs. People love them too, but usually with butter and that’s a different kind of love. In nature, crabs are so beloved that they have evolved multiple times in an example of parallel evolution gone wild. 

The process of something evolving into a crab is called carcinization which in and of itself is impressive. It happens so often it got its own name. Depending on who you ask, crabs have evolved 5 or 6 separate times. 

There are true crabs which are the kind you’ll find on various restaurant menus. There are also false crabs which evolved from more lobster-like ancestors. These include hermit crabs. Then there are dromiidae or sponge crabs, tiny porcelain crabs, Red Lobster all-stars King crabs, and chunky little hairy stone crabs. 

Science can’t fully explain why so many creatures evolve into crabs but the clearest answer seems to be that it makes sense. There are advantages to the shape and design of a crab that are superior to what the ancestors of those creatures had going for them. Or, in other words, crabs are better designed than crustaceans with different body types and attributes.

9. Caffeine Production Evolved in Coffee, Tea and Other Plants

Humankind loves caffeine, it’s the most consumed psychoactive substance in the world. We put it in drinks and snacks but most often enjoy it where it naturally comes from – coffee and tea. Except those aren’t the only sources of natural caffeine in the world, either. 

Caffeine evolved, on its own, in multiple plants that have no biological connections to one another. Not just coffee and tea but cacao which allows chocolate to have a dose, yerba mate, and around 60 other plants in total.

Though the chemical process of making caffeine in plants is similar from one plant to another, research has shown that in coffee and chocolate the enzymes that evolved to make caffeine weren’t related. 

When it comes to tea, after the genome of coffee was unlocked, scientists could determine that the two beverages came by their caffeine through totally different genes. While the enzymes were different between coffee and other plants, this basic genetic difference shows a completely unrelated process between the two plants. 

8. Six-Legged Bodies Evolved Twice

For most people, anything with six legs is considered an unwelcome guest in the house, on a picnic, or anywhere else. There are very few bugs in the world that are well-liked by anyone and even the ones we do like — honeybees, for example — we still don’t want to get up close and personal with. 

Nature has a different outlook for insects. So much so, in fact, that the 6-legged form may have evolved two different times. This is in contrast to the previously held belief that ancient insect ancestors had many more legs, like centipedes and millipedes, and the 6-legged variation is a relatively new trend in evolution. 

Insects and crustaceans shared a common ancestor. This branched to produce hexapods, which includes our six-legged insect friends.But study of the mitochondrial DNA of some organisms, in particular collembola or springtails, shows they branched off from crustaceans well before other insects did. 

7. Teeth Evolved In Different Times and Species

Teeth aren’t something we spend a ton of time thinking about. You think about brushing them, you’ll definitely think about them when you break or lose one, and you may notice a nice smile. But thinking about where they came from in an evolutionary sense is not big on most peoples’ to-do lists.

Evidence has suggested that teeth didn’t all come from the same place. They may have evolved at two different times in evolutionary history for both fish and mammals. With mammals, it looks like the first to evolve teeth, which would have been tiny, shrew-type creatures, happened twice. Creatures in both the northern and southern hemispheres, totally separate from each other, seemed to have evolved molars at the same time. Previously it was thought that tribosphenic molars, which can both cut and grind, only evolved in the northern hemisphere. But fossils from Australia and Madagascar contradict that. 

Under the water, fossilized fish called placoderms have shown that the idea that teeth came from one single vertebrate ancestor may also be untrue. Well before the mammals, these fish were sporting chompers 408 million years ago. One branch of their family tree evolved from ridges of tooth-like material to separate, cone-like protrusions made of dentine, also known as teeth,

6. Dinosaurs Evolved the Ability to Fly Several Times

Most people seem on board with the idea that chickens and other modern birds can trace their lineage to dinosaurs. The ancient lizards evolved wings, and some learned to fly and here we are today deep-frying them. 

The reality of the evolution of flight is not so simple as a T. Rex becoming a chicken. Fossil evidence shows that flight may have evolved in more than one time and place. The ancestors of modern birds is obviously the one we already know, but prehistoric raptors in South America also indicate that they evolved the ability to fly as well.

Later research into the ancestors of birds showed that the branch of dinosaurs that led to modern birds, deinonychosaurs, had potentially evolved the ability to fly at least three times. Scientists had to look at bone size and other physical traits that mirror what we know about birds today and determined a small dinosaur in the southern hemisphere called Rahonavis would have been able to fly, as would the four-winged Microraptor. 

It’s likely that many feathered dinosaurs probably could glide, but those that could flap wings and take off to fly were relatively rare, just not as rare as we thought.

5. Red Blooded Vertebrates Evolved Twice

Red blood is a staple of vertebrates. If you have a spine, you probably have red blood with a few unusual exceptions like green-blooded skinks. That aspect of our existence, that the iron in our hemoglobin causes blood to be red, is usually never questioned. It seems like one of our basic building blocks and once you know why blood is red, there’s not much else to it. 

Because the way blood transports oxygen through an organism is pretty efficient, it’s easy to imagine that it’s also not an exclusive method from an evolutionary standpoint. Research shows that red-blooded vertebrates managed to evolve two different times about 500 million years ago. While most vertebrates, including humans, came upon red blood to transport oxygen the same way, there are jawless fish, like lampreys, that came upon it through another method entirely. The ancestors of the fish developed an entirely distinct set of proteins to manage oxygenated blood.

4. Venom Has Evolved at Least 100 Separate Times

The world is full of dangerous animals. Some are dangerous because of their teeth and claws but others have developed effective weapons in the form of venom. Different venoms cause different reactions. Neurotoxic venoms affect your nervous system while hemotoxic can go for your heart and make you bleed out. You can be exposed to venom from snakes, fish, spiders, insects, amphibians, and even some mammals. 

Venom systems have evolved over 100 times across these various life forms, making it one of the most prolific evolutionary traits in the world. The evolution is as complex as it sounds. Some venom is related to digestive enzymes, others are not. It can be transmitted through skin or fangs or stingers depending on the animal. The origins are still steeped in mystery.

3. Wolves May Have Evolved Into Dogs In More Than One Place

That modern dogs evolved from wolves about 130,000 years ago and they were domesticated about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago is fairly well known. Less well known is that this may have happened more than once. The domestication of dogs may have happened in both the East and the West, turning wolves to dogs in two unrelated places. 

In the past there has been disagreement about whether domestication occurred in East Asia, Central Asia or Europe. But all three could be correct. Comparisons of ancient dog DNA found in skeletal remains shows that Eastern and Western dogs are genetically different and may have come from different evolutionary trees.

Another study conducted later revealed that dogs from the Middle East and Eastern Asia also have different genetic origins, meaning separate wolf populations likely gave rise to each. Theoretically that could mean wolves evolved into dogs in several places.

2. Life Itself May Have Evolved Multiple Times

Let’s go back further than ever before. Not to the evolution of teeth or eyes or fur or bones. Let’s go all the way to the moment life started and ask a question. Was there one, specific moment when life evolved? Or did it happen a lot?

Science has proposed that it’s possible there was no single moment when life began. Instead, life may have started over and over and over in multiple, unconnected places. The earliest life, in its simplest forms, could have been spreading like wildfire in all kinds of unique and diverse ways. And maybe it was only our first mass extinction event that many of these were wiped out, paving the way for far fewer options to take over in the place of what was lost.

For a long time there was a belief that all life on Earth, no matter what form it took, could be traced back billions of years to one microorganism that would have been the progenitor of everything. But this alternate theory presents the possibility that there was no single common ancestor at all. 

The presence of life that exists outside “normal” conditions lends credence to this theory. Things that thrive in harsh, deep ocean vents, or the darkest sealed corners of the world. The microbes there, which are rarely studied, could be parts of totally separate trees of life. 

1. The Aldabra Rail Went Extinct But Then Evolved Into Existence Again

So far we’ve seen several examples of convergent evolution which gave rise to similar shapes or aspects for organisms, but there is nothing else like the Aldabra rail. This is an entire bird that evolved, existed, went extinct and then evolved again from a different bird.

The original Aldabra rail was a flightless bird that lived on the Aldabra atoll in the Indian Ocean. It was not entirely remarkable other than by virtue of being flightless, which is the reason it could not survive the flooding of the atoll 136,000 years ago. The flood wiped all terrestrial life on the atoll out and the rail went extinct. 

Fast forward to 36,000 years ago. An ice age altered the landscape of the world and ocean level’s dropped enough to bring the atoll back. Over in Madagascar, a bird called the white throated rail took flight and left the island, settling on the Aldabra atoll. This same thing happened once in the past as this same bird, long in the past, left Madagascar and settled on the atoll where, over time, it evolved to be flightless and became the extinct Aldabra rail.

With a new population of white throated rails, nature followed the same path as before and the rails once again lost their ability to fly. The Aldabra rail had evolved back into existence for a second time. 

Comparisons of bones between the new flightless rails and the old flightless rails and the flying white-throated rails show the extinct and the new versions are very similar and distinct from their flying ancestors, with thicker ankles designed for walking and a heavier overall structure not ideal for flight.

When you stop to think about it for a moment, there are actually a lot of animals that don’t have eyes. Jellyfish, Hydras, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, worms, and many more critters never evolved a means of looking around, and instead, use other means to make their way in the world.

Other than those animals, there are some that either had eyes at one point in their evolutionary history, and lost them over time, or they evolved eyes that were later rendered incapable of seeing. Whatever their evolutionary niche, these ten interesting animals lost their ability to see the world around them but found innovative ways of surviving.

10 Interesting Theories Of Evolution You Have Never Heard About

10 Blind Legless Lizard – Dibamus Dalaiensis

A new species of legless lizard was discovered in 2011, and as the name suggests, it’s completely blind. These interesting animals have some of the characteristics of snakes but fall under the Dibamidae family of blind skinks. Though they look similar, they have external ears, and depending on the gender, they may have small protuberances where legs would normally be located. The new species was discovered in Cambodia and marks the first time an animal of its kind was located in the Southeast Asian nation.

The Blind Legless Lizard of Cambodia evolved not to need eyes, as it spends nearly its entire life burrowing through the soil. According to one researcher, when it comes to eyes, “Those adaptations are simply a waste of energy when you’re working your way through underground tunnels.” Legless lizards evolved prior to snakes, and many species, including this newly discovered one, are threatened. D. dalaiensis, as far as any researcher is aware, lives in a small area on a single mountain in Cambodia, which is under threat from logging and other industries.^[1]

9 Brazilian Blind Characid – Stygichthys Typhlops

In the caves of Minas Gerais, Brazil, lives the Brazilian Blind Characid, a species of cave-adapted fish, which has evolved to no longer need eyes, or pigmentation. Like other species of tetra, they are small fish, measuring up to 1.8″ (4.6 cm), and live a relatively solitary life in their cave ponds. In the wild, they are becoming rarer, due, in large part, to a reduction in the local water table, which has resulted in the drying up of numerous ponds and streams. Despite their decline int the wild, they are sometimes kept in aquariums as pets, where they are prized for their unique features.

The fish was initially discovered in the 60s and was later rediscovered in the early 2000s. Since that time, only a limited population has been studied in their native habitat, as well as in laboratories, where their behavior could be monitored. They have no reaction to light, and there are no visible eyes, where they would normally be located in other tetra species. They are the last remaining species of Stygichthys, and there was once a surface variant, but habitat loss has likely resulted in its extinction. The Brazilian Blind Characid is limited to a 25km-long aquifer and is threatened by habitat loss due to a lowering of the local water table.^[2]

8 Kentucky Cave Shrimp – Palaemonias Ganteri

The Kentucky Cave Shrimp is a freshwater species of troglobite shrimp found in the caves of Barren, Edmonson, Hart, and Warren Counties, Kentucky. The species has evolved without eyes of any kind, and its shell lacks pigment, making it almost entirely transparent. They live exclusively in underground streams found in caves and can be found mostly in Mammoth Cave National Park. They survive in the low energy environment off of the sediment that washes into the cave via the movement of groundwater. Within the sediment, they find a rich bounty of protozoans, fungi, algal cells, and other organic materials.

Most species of shrimp possess small eyestalks topped with ocular receptors of some type, but the Kentucky Cave Shrimp evolved without these and has no way of sensing light. They look much like Ghost Shrimp, a common species found in many aquariums. Unlike Ghost Shrimp, the Kentucky Cave Shrimp is threatened due to its limited range. It only occupies a small area within Kentucky and is suffering in that area due to poor water quality resulting from a deterioration via groundwater contamination. Fortunately, conservation efforts are underway to ensure this strange animal doesn’t disappear from the world.^[3]

7 Olm – Proteus Anguinus

An Olm is a species of aquatic salamander, which is the sole cave-dwelling chordate in Europe. It is entirely aquatic, which is unusual for any amphibian, and it is found solely in caves in the Dinarcip Alps, where it spends its life eating, sleeping, and breeding underwater. Their fleshy skin color has earned them the nickname of “human fish” by the locals, and it has a rich history dating back hundreds of years. The first examples were identified in 1689, where the locals found them washed up after heavy rains. They were believed to be the offspring of a cave dragon, but sadly, they are mere salamanders, and cannot breathe fire.

Unlike some of the other species on this list, the Olm possesses eyes, but they are undeveloped and incapable of seeing any light. It uses its other senses of smell and hearing to navigate its dark environment. Their eyes are formed into small slits, which are completely covered by transparent skin, leaving no eyelids and no other “seeing” features. They have small limbs, with three toes on their forearms, and two on its hind feet, and they lack pigmentation, which is why they have a fleshy, earthworm look to their skin.^[4]

6 Kaua’i Cave Wolf Spider – Adelocosa Anops

The Kaua’i Cave Wolf Spider is a blind spider found in only a few caves located in the Koloa–Po’ipu region of Kaua’i, Hawaiian Islands, where only six populations have been observed. They are relatively small for wolf spiders, and only reach a body length of around 0.8″ (20 mm). Their above-ground cousins have large eyes, but the Kaua’i Cave Wolf Spider has evolved to no longer need them—it has no eyes, whatsoever. They are completely harmless to people, and instead, prey almost exclusively on a small amphipod found in its environment, which itself is limited to only nine populations in the same area.

Because of their limited range in the caves of Koloa–Po’ipu, the spider is under threat of habitat loss and deterioration. This has resulted from human intervention and activities, which have contaminated their habitat. The biggest threat has been the use of chemical and biological pest controls, which kills their intended prey species, resulting in significant losses to the known populations of the Kaua’i Cave Wolf Spider. They are currently listed as endangered, and efforts are underway to limit their habitat loss to ensure their survival.^[5]

10 Amazing Evolutionary Discoveries In Prehistoric Creatures

5 Widemouth Blindcat – Satan Eurystomus

The Widemouth Blindcat is a species of catfish found in Texas, and the only member of the genus Satan. Yes, Satan. The species was first identified in a dark well, indicating it evolved to live in a lightless, subterranean environment. It is currently found in only five artesian wells in and around San Antonio, Texas. They lack pigmentation, and as their name implies, they have no visible eyes on the outside of their bodies. They do have eye remnants, suggesting they once had eyes but evolved to no longer need them. Their ocular remnants are incredibly reduced in size, and have little to no trace of a retina or lens, though the optic tract is present, it doesn’t reach the brain.

The Widemouth Blindcat is comparatively smaller than typical catfish and only grows to a length of around 5.4″ (13.7 cm). They have been found with crustacean skeletons in their stomachs, which implies they are a top-tier predator in their environment. Because of groundwater contamination, they are currently listed as vulnerable, and their population has been noted as declining. Conservation efforts are underway, but there are significant challenges due to their limited range to only a small area in central Texas.^[6]

4 Blind Albino Cave Crab – Munidopsis Polymorpha

The Blind Albino Cave Crab is a species of squat lobster found only in the caves of Jameos del Agua in Lanzarote, Canary Islands. They are small, pale in color, and completely blind. They live exclusively in lava tubes, which were created thousands of years ago after seawater flooded into the caves created by volcanic eruptions. They are unique to their environment and very little has been learned about them since their identification in 1892. Despite the little known about them, they represent the animal symbol of the island of Lanzarote.

The Blind Albino Cave Crab lives in a cave, which can be visited and is even listed on Trip Advisor as a good place to check out while visiting Lanzarote. Physically, they look like tiny lobsters, which is actually what they are, despite what their name implies. They lack pigmentation and have no eyestalks of any kind. They have no reaction to light and get around by using their senses of smell, taste, and touch. Unlike most of the species on this list, they are not currently listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.^[7]

3 Southern Cave Crayfish – Orconectes Australis

There are several aspects of the Southern Cave Crayfish, which make it an interesting specimen for study. One of the most important details about this critter is that it is a centenarian species, which means it can live in excess of 100 years, and one reported example of a Southern Cave Crafish was noted to be more than 176 years in age. The Southern Cave Crayfish looks much like other species of crayfish, though it lacks pigmentation, making it translucent, and it has no eyes or any reaction to light. They are found in subterranean cave waters of Alabama and Tennessee, where it is listed as being of least concern for survival.

They measure up to about 1.8″ in length, and have adapted to their surroundings such that they don’t need to see to get around, which is good seeing as there isn’t any light where they live. They subsist on small fish and insects, as well as whatever they can suck from the sediment washed into their environment via groundwater. They have been observed clinging to walls, on banks, and within open water, where then enjoy burying themselves beneath rocks.^[8]

2 Mexican Tetra – Astyanax Mexicanus

The Mexican Tetra is a species of characin found in the freshwaters of the Rio Grande, the Nueces, and Pecos Rivers in Texas, as well as various bodies of water in the central and eastern parts of Mexico. The fish grow to an impressive 4.7″ (12 cm), which is fairly large for a tetra and has no pigmentation, or eyes of any kind. Like the Brazilian Blind Cavefish, the Mexican Tetra is popular among aquarists, where it is often kept in cave-style tanks requiring minimal illumination.

These fish originally had eyes, as their surface-dwelling cousins still do, but over time, they evolved to lose them. Energy conservation is incredibly important in their environment, and scientists have surmised that they lost their eyes over time, as they no longer needed them. A published study determined that “for young, developing fish, the energy cost of sight is 15 percent greater than if they were blind.” This was due to the energy-hungry needs of photoreceptive cells and neurons, which the fish completely lacks. To compensate for their lack of eyesight, they scoop up and eat everything they come across, including dead animals and plants.^[9]

1 Texas Blind Salamander – Eurycea Rathbuni

The Texas Blind Salamander is an incredibly rare species of troglobite amphibian found only in San Marcos, Texas, where it can be found in the San Marcos Pool of the Edwards Aquifer. They can reach lengths of up to 5″ (13 cm), and their diet enables them to subsist on whatever happens to flow into its dark environment. This can include a species of blind shrimp, snails, small fish, and anything else they come across. The species was first identified in 1895 when they were extracted from a newly constructed well, which drew water from a depth of 58 meters below the surface. Since that time, they have been studied from seven known locations in and around San Marcos.

Because the Texas Blind Salamander lacks eyes, possessing only subdermal sightless black dots where eyes would normally be, it hunts by sensing water movement in its environment, which is normally completely still. It hunts by moving from side-to-side, as it senses water pressure changes. They are rare, due to their limited range, and because of pollution to the groundwater in their area, their population has been on the decline. The IUCN has listed them as vulnerable, and conservation efforts are underway to protect them in their native habitat.^[10]

Top 10 Surreal Animals That Really Exist

Insects are fascinating creatures. While they’re considered creepy or unsettling by some, they’re among the most diverse and interesting animals, often armed with a wide variety of defence mechanisms, survival tactics, and highly unique appearances.

Most of us are used to house flies and wasps, perhaps the widely recognisable ladybug beetle, but few are aware of just how distinct and strange insects can be. Evolved in incredible ways to ward off predators, source nourishment, and efficiently reproduce, there are myriads of examples we can look at. We’ll be examining ten of these wild adaptations today.

10 Incredible Firsts In The Evolution Of Life On Earth

10 Defensive Odour—Stink Bugs

Starting off with a unique defensive mechanism that many of us may have already observed in some animals; releasing a horrible odour when threatened. Stink bugs are a widely disliked insect, having gained an extremely negative reputation largely attributed to the facts that they’re very common and attempting taking one outside will most likely result in one’s room smelling awful.

Not a unique mechanism, as strange as it is, skunks infamously resort to a similar defence and some other insects have such a mechanism as well. Even so, stink bugs remain a mainstay in our collective experiences, given the fact that there are thousands of species worldwide. Given these facts and that many of the most widespread species are invasive, their defence clearly works fabulously. So fabulously, in fact, that a group of scientists have been working for years on introducing a wasp species that would get rid of the invasive stink bugs supposedly without harming the native wildlife. This group felt extremely lucky when said wasp showed up in the area naturally without any introduction efforts, though the results are unknown.

9 Sexual Cannibalism—Praying Mantis

Another infamous behaviour, the female praying mantis, just like the equally infamous female black widow, will frequently eat their mate after it’s done their job in the reproduction cycle. While it certainly seems cruel and unacceptable to us—and it certainly would be as humans or arguably at any scale—it is an effective survival tactic for these insects and not one done as an act of cruelty.

In studies, roughly half of the males survived mating, though in nature it’s estimated that only between 13 and 28 percent of them actually get eaten. The female half who ate their partners in the study, however, didn’t just get a certainly extremely useful meal to sustain themselves while laying eggs, but also laid a significantly higher amount of eggs to begin with.

In addition to this, it was shown that a large portion of the nutrition gained from eating the male actually went to the offspring rather than the mother. It certainly seems cruel, and it’s certainly a fortunate thing that humans aren’t a species that rely on this behaviour. It may be horrible, but it is an efficient act of survival.

8 Defensive Vomit—Pine Sawfly Larvae

Back to defence mechanisms with one that’s certainly unique, at the very least. Simply and quite grossly put, the larvae of the pine sawfly band together in groups and vomit at their predators to fend them off. If that wasn’t strange enough, apparently some of them don’t even do it but still get the benefits! They gain protection from the group but refuse to actually contribute at all, living as freeloaders.

Males are apparently more likely to avoid contributing than females, growing faster as a result without having to actually work. Some larvae, however, simply stop vomiting because they’ve done it so much. This tactic, while effective, takes a lot out of the insect, weakening them and lowering their chance of survival.

To make things worse, pine sawfly larvae are widely considered a pest. They consume pine needles, heavily damaging the trees in the process.

7 Pit Viper Caterpillar—Hawk Moth

Caterpillars don’t seem too unusual. Most of us learn about them in school, we’re aware that some are venomous to touch, but not many of us think about these larval forms. Colourful and interesting by themselves, caterpillars deserve probably more recognition than they currently have. This is especially true for the hawk moth’s curious looking larva.

The fascinating ability that truly makes these caterpillars stand out from the rest is the fact that they mimic snakes! They can be a variety of colours from brown to green and, when threatened, they’re able to puff up, taking on the shape and overall look of a snake’s head, which many have likened to an extremely dangerous pit viper. While the caterpillar is actually harmless, the disguise is so convincing that it’s an effective survival tactic by itself, able to fool any predatory birds and even humans that may cross paths with this fearsome ‘snake’.

6 Washing Children With Poison—Ants

Everyone’s aware of the hardworking ant, eusocial, part of incredible colonies, cleaning their young using poison—apparently. Behaviour that could be considered personal hygiene is common among insects, though some ordinary ants do a lot in the name of cleanliness. It is, after all, paramount for ants to avoid a disease outbreak, a single one quite possibly wiping an entire nest out.

With this in mind, their solution seems to be the unique technique of sucking poison from their backsides out of their acidopore, and simply drooling it over their young to destroy potentially harmful fungi infecting them, thus preventing it from spreading. Apparently, some opted to simply spray the poison but most felt that licking up their own poison directly from the acidopore and releasing that was a better option. The good news in all of this is that this appears to work wonders; even the fungi that aren’t destroyed are far less likely to spread. Nature is truly amazing, even when it’s a tad unappealing.

5 Glowing Cockroach—Lucihormetica luckae

Cockroaches are a pest, yet also deeply misunderstood. Out of the 4,600 species scientists have discovered so far, only a few actually act as pests, occupying human households. The vast majority do no such thing and simply live in forests. That being said, it’s entirely understandable that people have major problems with the ones that do infest our habitats—they are simply horrible. Even then, we can feel lucky knowing that we perhaps got a better deal than we could’ve. The cockroaches we mostly encounter don’t actually do much besides being a hygiene and potential health hazard, many other species are far more exciting, or perhaps unsettling.

Lucihormetica luckae is, simply put, a cockroach that glows green in the dark, only leaving a dark spot that creepily resembles a face, perhaps a skull. While a glowing cockroach seems easier to kill, and it certainly would be for us, it also seems to be an effect of mimicry. Scientists believe that this strange species mimics the bioluminescent click beetle, a poisonous insect. Yet again, the strangeness seems to work, even if it may seem odd or redundant at first.

4 Sweet ‘Vomit’—Bees

The statement ‘honey is bee vomit’ has become a bit of a viral saying largely in the past decade or so. Whether that’s true depends on one’s definition of vomit—honey does not come from a bee’s stomach but rather a separate ‘honey stomach’. The delicious substance is, however, regurgitated nonetheless.

While we’ve grown accustomed to honey as a staple food item, the reason bees make honey to begin with has fallen by the wayside a little. The sweet, regurgitated substance is, like virtually all things in the animal kingdom, simply for survival. Honey keeps pretty much indefinitely as it’s an unsuitable environment for bacteria. Bees take advantage of this even more than we do. In the cold winter months when flowers are unavailable, bees use their stored honey as a long-lasting food source. Whether it’s ‘bee vomit’ or ‘bee spit’ or not, honeybees and humans alike have found it delicious and deeply useful for a long, long time, and will continue to do so indefinitely.

3 Scorpion Tail Genitals—Scorpion Fly

Seeing a flying insect with a scorpion tail would likely be a scary experience for anyone uninitiated with the aptly named scorpion fly. For those who are aware of this insect, however, the fear just turns into bewilderment and perhaps repulsion. What looks like a clear scorpion tail with a stinger on the end isn’t quite what it seems.

This strange appendage is, interestingly, only present on male scorpion flies. Yes, the ‘scorpion tail’ is in fact a mating display, and, as the male’s claspers, acts similarly to the respective genitalia in other species. Aside from their deeply odd biology, mating for scorpion flies seems to involve the frequent giving of gifts to the female in the form of dead insects scavenged from the ground or spiders’ webs, or, alternatively, simply a decent amount of saliva.

2 Hummingbird Insect—Hummingbird Moth

You may assume hummingbird moths simply mimic hummingbirds. Sure, that would be quite interesting, perhaps visually pleasing, but not exceedingly special. Thankfully, these insects go many steps further. They, incredibly, don’t just have the ability to hover like hummingbirds and even share some visual features with these unrelated birds, they feed and live much the same way as well.

A brilliant and fascinating example of convergent evolution, these unfortunately short-lived moths are relatively rare, and do unfortunately die in the span of months or even weeks. This isn’t a product of this lifestyle, however, just an unfortunate side effect of being a moth. If these animals weren’t wonderful enough already, though, the fact that they’re decently efficient pollinators also adds to their incredible charm. Several species can be found in North America and many others in the Old World, so, if one’s able to see one, it’ll be an experience definitely worth remembering.

1 Exploding—Bombardier Beetle

Finishing off the list not with hummingbird moths’ wonderful charms but something significantly more extreme, bombardier beetles are capable of the impressive survival feat of.. exploding. While they’re small and only live weeks, hopefully not due to this daring technique, they’re truly incredible insects. Armed with the ability to release a burning-hot, foul smelling liquid to kill other insects and drive off small and large predators alike, the bombardier beetle isn’t an animal worth messing with.

This amazing mechanism can send them flying, save their life when swallowed by forcing a predator to spit the insect out, and more. The liquid is powerful enough to incapacitate many animals and cause a nasty burn even on human skin, releasing from the beetle’s body at a boiling 100°C. Bombardier beetles have famously—or infamously—been used as an argument against evolution, but scientists maintain that the beetles evolved incrementally, which is certainly where the evidence points, a fact that only makes these small creatures even more impressive.

10 People Killed By Animals You Wouldn’t Expect

About The Author: Just a curious person with a passion for all things science, history, mysteries, the paranormal, animals, and strange cultural phenomena!