It’s hard to find uniqueness in the world sometimes. A million people probably have the same haircut as you, or love the same movies, or have the same favorite food. The animal kingdom is no different. But for every feature or trait there will always be one thing, one creature, that was first to display it or make use. And there are some other features that are so unique that only one living thing can lay claim to them. 

10. A Presumed Extinct Rodent Showed Up To Pose for Photos Then Vanished Again

Colombia’s red-crested tree rat is pretty cute for a jungle rat, not that many people can confirm that in real life. The animal was first discovered in 1898 and it wasn’t until 1913 before anyone saw one again. That was also the last time anyone saw one for nearly an entire century.

After almost one hundred years it seemed like the rat had probably died out and it was generally believed extinct. Researchers looking for examples of the creature had not had much luck in coming up with any evidence whatsoever. 

In 2011, a pair of volunteers were out photographing wildlife when a rat showed up unexpectedly and stayed in sight for two hours where they could photograph it before it vanished into the woods again. It even let them get close for detailed, close up images. No one has seen one since, either.

9. The Sea Walnut Has a Moving Anus

The sea walnut, aka the warty comb jelly, is an animal that seems to have been custom made for the immature to giggle at. A sort of jellyfish, this small, translucent and exceedingly rare creature has the only known example in nature of what scientists called a “transient anus.” It means exactly what it sounds like it means – this animal has a roaming butt hole.

As waste material builds up inside the sea walnut’s body it needs to be excreted just as it would in any other animal. But unlike the rest of us, the sea walnut has no orifice with which to do that. Instead, pressure forces the waste towards wherever. Literally anywhere on the creature’s body, and then forces it out like poking your finger through some plastic wrap. Once the waste pops out, the hole closes over and then next time it will probably pop out somewhere else. 

8. A Baboon Troop in Kenya Became Peaceful and Taught it to Others

In the primate world, baboons are generally not regarded as the most chill animals. They have a reputation for aggression. And that’s exactly why a troop of the animals made international news back in the 1980s. Not for being aggressive but for how they managed to pull a complete 180 on their behavior.

A severe outbreak of tuberculosis struck one troop of baboons in Kenya. The main victims of the disease just happened to be the most aggressive males – the ones most prone to violence and aggression that we, as humans, might describe as alphas. There were other males in the troop but they were not as powerful and therefore not aggressive. So a funny thing happened when the violent ones died off. The remaining females, young baboons, and gentle, docile males just continued life as a pacifist troop. 

Rather than a new aggressive leader taking control, the remaining baboons were generally kind and caring with one another. Grooming took over for violent attacks. More astonishing is that, as scientists studied the troop for another 20 years, even when the pacifist males died out and new males either grew into more dominant roles or even joined from outside troops, the behavior remained. The troop stayed generally calm, passive, and caring with its own.

Researchers agreed that the group must be able to teach this kinder way of life to outsiders as they join, though they were not sure how.

7. Sea Sponges Can Reform After Being Destroyed

A few things are true of most living things. Most of us like food and water and air, even if we pull it out of water to survive. Not many things like fire. And most of us don’t like being ground down to individual cells because that’s really uncomfortable. However, if you’re a sponge, at least you can get over it. No other organism can.

Sponges can be pulled apart right down to their individual cells and, given time, they will reassemble themselves into a single organism again, sort of like a simple version of the T-1000 from Terminator 2.

You can even check out time lapse video of sponges in labs that are passed through sieves and forced apart. Their cells will gather and recombine, forming new sponges as a result that can go on living their lives. 

6. A Fish Parasite Doesn’t Require Any Oxygen at All

In that last entry we mentioned that most living organisms like oxygen. Even creatures from the sea use gills or other means to take oxygen from the water to keep themselves alive. But the parasite known as Henneguya salminicola stands alone in its utter lack of concern for oxygen. It is the only living animal scientists have discovered that cannot breathe oxygen and therefore has no need for the element.

The parasite infects salmon and trout and causes a condition called tapioca disease, which is about as gross as it sounds. The parasites form white nodules in the flesh of the fish. They are very small, only 10 cells make up one of these parasites, and they are smaller than most cells in a human body. But they have no mitochondria and therefore do not convert sugar and oxygen into energy. Scientists aren’t actually sure what powers the parasite’s cells, though they suspect they steal some energy from their hosts.

5. Mantises Are the Only Creatures with a Single Ear

In the insect world, mantises standout for being some of the coolest looking creatures on Earth, especially orchid mantises. And the penchant for female mantids to eat the heads of the males after mating, or sometimes during, is also something that captures the imagination of many people. But while that’s interesting it’s not technically unique. Many spiders consume their mates as well. But mantises do have one unique claim to fame and that’s a cyclops ear.

It was long believed that a praying mantis is deaf because it doesn’t have ears. But scientists weren’t looking in the right place. The single ear, able to hear the ultrasonic cries of bats, is located inside the mantis’ thorax, right in the middle of its chest. There’s just one of them and that seems to be all the insect needs, given its central location. 

Mantis hearing is so good that, in midair, they can detect a pursuing bat and bank then dive like a fighter jet right at the ground, gaining speed as they do so, in order to avoid the predator.

4. A Species of Deep Sea Snail Makes Armor out of Iron

There are a few animals in the world that we generally consider to be armored. Turtles, armadillos, crabs, and snails tend to come to mind. But it’s not armor in the human sense, of course, just some kind of shell or carapace that’s tough and durable and offers a degree of protection. Except for maybe one species of snail. The scaly foot snail uses actual iron in the construction of their shells and they are the only animal that does so.

The snails live near thermal vents in the Indian ocean. Waters around these vents get up to 400 degrees Celsius, which is four times the temperature of boiling water. They use minerals spewed out of these vents to form shells so while some use iron sulphide others will make use of pyrite or Fool’s Gold, and gregite as well. They form their shells of this stuff and also plates that cover their soft feet.

Normal snails have two-layered shells. One is a calcium carbonate, the inner layer, and it helps dissipate heat. These iron snails have that. The next layer, or outer shell, is the tough one that helps absorb damage and protect the snail from predators. 

These deep sea snails have a third layer, and that’s where the metal is used. The iron or other elements form a nanoparticle coating on the shell. If a predator tries to crush the snail. These particles help absorb the damage and also blunt the claws or teeth of the attacker. It’s so effective the military has even been studying the science of how it works in the hopes of creating new armor types. 

3. One Kind of Skink Has Lime Green Insides

In order to make a character like Spock on Star Trek seem a little more alien than just a guy with pointy ears, the producers gave him green blood. In older sci-fi you’ll find few things more unusual than the color green. Little green men were a trope, after all. It’s not something we’re used to in life beyond plants and lizards on earth. But when lizards on earth go green, some go all out. Like the skink, for instance. Skinks are so green they are the only animals in the world that go green inside as well.

The inside of a certain kind of skink of the genus Prasinohaema is bright green. Bright green blood, bright green organs, even bright green bones. It’s unlike anything else you’ll find in nature. It comes from a compound called biliverdin, which is highly toxic to most life forms. Normally it’s a waste product from the breakdown of red blood cells. Humans make something similar called bilirubin. If we can’t eliminate it, it leads to jaundice and a yellow discoloration of the skin. 

The compound isn’t really a defense mechanism as birds still eat the lizards. And it’s not camouflage either as not all of them are green outside. So researchers speculate, and it’s not proven at all, that maybe it protects against parasites. 

2. The Pyrenean Ibex is the Only Species to go Extinct Twice

Is the Pyrenean Ibex literally the unluckiest animal in history? Maybe. Certainly there are plenty of creatures that would be in the running for that title but luck is sort of a diffuse and malleable attribute so by some standards you could definitely say nothing else has been unlucky. So how do we measure luck? In this case we’re doing so by factoring in death. The Pyrenean Ibex has died more than any other species in history because it’s the only one that has had to endure going totally extinct not once but twice.

As the name suggests, these antelope-like animals once called the Pyrenees Mountains home. Their numbers dwindled throughout the 20th century and by 1997 only one was left alive. The body of that one was discovered in the year 2000 after it had been crushed by a fallen tree. Thus the millennium started with the first extinction of the Pyrenean Ibex.

The genetic material from that last ibex had been harvested well before her death. A team of scientists set about cloning her and inserted her genetic material into the egg of a goat that had been stripped of its own. They made 57 embryos and implanted them in a different kind of ibex. Only seven of the creatures became pregnant and of those just a single one was able to give birth.

In 2003, the Pyrenean Ibex became unextinct when a brand new baby was born. The celebration was short-lived, however, as the baby had a severe respiratory condition. It survived for about 10 minutes and then the species went extinct all over again.

1. Hagfish are the Only Animals That Have Skulls But Not Spines

Hagfish enjoy a bit of infamy on the internet thanks to their unusually phallic appearance and the fact they produce copious amounts of incredibly thick slime as a defense mechanism. Numerous hagfish can turn huge swaths of ocean water into little more than a salty Jello mold to trap and potentially suffocate predators.

While those are unique features, they’re still not the most unusual thing about these creatures. Hagfish are the only animals that have a skull in their heads but no spine connected to it. Without vertebrae they can’t technically be vertebrates. They also don’t have jaws and the skeleton they do have isn’t bone, it’s cartilage.

Using available box office numbers, superhero film franchises have generated well over $40 billion to date, which is a fairly decent indicator that people are really into superheroes. But if you’re feeling a little burned out on the whole thing, worry not. Nature itself offers up some unbelievable alternatives to the MCU. In a way, it almost makes sense – why shouldn’t the non-human creatures of the world have superhuman abilities?

10. Ballooning Spiders Can Fly 

One of the most basic yet revered superhero abilities is flight. Mankind has long envied the birds of the sky and their perceived freedom, so it’s no wonder that superheroes who can fly are a dime a dozen these days. There’s something fascinating about flight being mastered by a life form that has no business flying. Take spiders, for instance.

Some species of spider engage in a behavior called ballooning. They turn their butts skyward and release strands of web into the great wide open. The webbing lifts the spider and carries it away. They can even travel across oceans doing this. That alone is impressive, but it’s worth looking at a little more closely.

You might assume after reading this that the spiders are lifted up by the wind. That’s what scientists used to think, too. But spiders can hardly rely on the fickle nature of a breeze, can they? Ballooning doesn’t need the wind at all, though that’s obviously a possibility as well. But even on a calm day, the strands of silk they release are able to lift them up thanks to the Earth’s electric field.

Turns out the spiders are very finely tuned to electrical fields. The hairs on their bodies can actually feel changes in electrical fields and when conditions are right, they can release strands of silk, allowing the repulsion on a charged thread to take them up, up and away. 

9. Dolphins Can Shut Off Half of Their Own Brains

The world’s oceans still hold many mysteries and even the things we know about are pretty amazing. Look at the humble dolphin. It’s one of the most intelligent animals in the world and has been shown to do some amazing things from helping humans hunting fish to rescuing people from sharks. But have you ever stopped to wonder how a dolphin manages something as simple as sleeping?

Dolphins, like all mammals, need to breathe air. So how do you do that when you fall asleep in the middle of the ocean? If you’re a dolphin, you do it by fractions. They have the ability to shut down the hemispheres of their brains separately. That means the left half of their brain can be snoozing while the right half is awake and making sure they don’t drown or get eaten. 

This allows them to keep swimming slowly while they’re asleep, with one eye open, and remain alert in a very basic way. This is also important for mothers with babies as a baby can’t stop swimming or it will sink. The mom keeps swimming and pulling the baby along in her slipstream. 

Dolphins breathe consciously, unlike humans for whom breathing happens automatically. That’s why we don’t suffocate in our sleep. But a dolphin must always remain at least partially conscious to control this action. 

8. Hummingbirds Burn 6 Times as Many Calories a Day as a Human and Can Fly 500 Miles Nonstop

You may not think a hummingbird is any kind of force of nature, but the truth is, pound for pound, a hummingbird shames even the world’s greatest athletes in terms of physical ability and stamina. 

Even though they only weigh a few ounces, these birds are little machines when it comes to what they do in a day. The average hummingbird can burn anywhere from 6,000 to 12,000 calories in one day.  The average man burns around 2,000 calories per day. An Olympic athlete might burn 4,500. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson consumes over 5,000 calories per day to maintain his physique, meaning you could make an argument that the Rock is about half a hummingbird. 

What can a hummingbird do with all those calories? The ruby-throated hummingbird needs to migrate every year, and it chooses to do so by flying across the Gulf of Mexico. In one extended flight over open water, the bird will fly for nearly an entire day across 500 miles of ocean. The little guys need to bulk up before the flight and will lose half their entire body mass on the journey. 

7. Birds Can Repair Their Hearing 

About 13% of people in the US suffer hearing loss in one or both ears. That works out to around 30 million people. So finding a way to potentially fix that issue and restore hearing is a big industry. The answer may come from nature as it turns out birds can’t go permanently deaf. The reason is that their ears are able to repair themselves after damage. 

If the hair-like cells that transmit vibrations to your brain to be interpreted as sound are damaged, that’s it. You can permanently lose hearing if they are all destroyed. But birds, as well as some reptiles and amphibians, just grow new cells when they get damaged. Unlocking the science of that could lead to a treatment for what had once been permanent hearing loss in humans. 

The science behind it is complex and there are many hurdles to overcome before it could potentially help humans, but it’s a path to travel nonetheless. In the meantime, just know that if you ever meet a deaf bird, it won’t be deaf for long. 

6. Beta Mandrills Physically Change to Become Alphas

Alphas in animal society are something most of us are passingly familiar with. An alpha is the “top” animal in a hierarchy, the boss as it were. We’ve adopted the term into human society in a way that’s generally negative. An alpha male is someone most people consider a bully. And there’s a lot more to the science of being alpha that just being the loudest or toughest.

Firstly, there’s no such thing as an alpha wolf. That doesn’t happen in nature, and our understanding of that happening in wolf society was based on observations of captive animals. But some species do have alphas and colorful mandrill baboons are among them.

The difference between an alpha male and a beta male is amazing and nowhere is it better observed than seeing what happens when a beta male defeats an alpha. A beta male goes through observable physical changes when alpha status is achieved. 

Just by winning a fight, the beta male achieves alpha status. This includes an increase in testosterone production. His testicles grow larger and the red sexual coloration on both their face and genitals increases to attract more female attention. 

5. Elysia Marginata, a Nudibranch, Can Cut its Own Head Off 

Most people aren’t likely to list the Elysia marginata as their favorite animal because who the hell even knows what that is? Well, it’s a kind of nudibranch, or sea slug, and this curious little beast has one heck of a superpower. Much like Deadpool, this creature can survive just about anything, and it’s willing to push itself to the limit when it needs to. For instance, it can and will decapitate itself. 

Scientists think the process may be a way to fix problems like parasites. The slug just removes its head from its own body and starts the process of growing an entirely new body off of the severed head. It will come back as good as new, complete with all the vital organs, and the slug can go on living. 

4. Lyrebirds Have the Ability to Mimic Almost Any Sound

Lyrebirds are some remarkable creatures that live in Australia. They have ostentatious tail feathers, live on the ground and blend in pretty well with their surroundings. But the remarkable thing about a lyrebird is its unparalleled ability to mimic almost anything it hears. It may imitate up to 20 different birds in a single song and it uses this to try to lure in a mate.

The lyrebird doesn’t limit itself to stealing tunes from other birds, however. Their keen ears take in every sound they run across in the wild. That has led to some remarkable videos of these birds not just imitating their feathered cousins but things like car alarms, camera shutters, and even chainsaws. The mimicry is uncanny and, in many cases, nearly indistinguishable from the original source. 

3. Cougars are Unprecedented Farmers

When you think of the ability to grow plants and have a green thumb on the scale of a character like Poison Ivy, you’re unlikely to stray into the animal kingdom at all since most animals seem like they wouldn’t even have an understanding of how seeds and planting work. And guess what? That’s true. But just because a cougar doesn’t know it’s an amazing farmer doesn’t make it untrue. 

Research shows that a large predator, like a cougar, can disperse tens of thousands of seeds across a massive spread of their territory. Around 5000 seeds per square kilometer are spread and fertilized by cougars and that second point explains how it’s done. Cougars are apex predators and their prey is generally herbivores. They eat animals that eat plants and seeds and those seeds pass undisturbed through their digestive tract. As they travel their territory, they will inadvertently plant as much as 94,000 new fruits and flowers and other kinds of plantlife to keep the whole cycle going year after year. 

2. F. Oxysporum Fungus Wears Golden Armor

There are plenty of organisms you could compare to Iron Man out in the world, from turtles to armadillos to clams, depending on how fast and loose you want to play with the concept. But do any of them have the flair of Tony Stark? One does. It’s called Fusarium oxysporum and what it lacks in the cool name department it makes up for in industrious behavior.

Fusarium is a fungus that mines for gold. Found in Australia, this pink fungus is able to detect gold molecules in the soil and dissolve them. As the fungus grows, it spreads out tiny, thread-like tendrils. These tendrils draw the gold in and become encrusted with the element during the process. Researchers also noted that the fungus which found the gold actually grew more than fungus that wasn’t able to do so. 

The process takes place in the soil and at a microscopic level, so it’s unlikely you’ll be seeing any golden mushrooms growing in the woods anytime soon. That said, if there was enough gold present, who knows? 

1. Newts Can Regenerate Almost Anything

Any superhero worth their salt has to be tough. They have to be able to get beaten on by the likes of Thanos or Stilt-Man. And they can’t all be super strong like the Hulk or nearly invulnerable like Superman. Sometimes things need to get a little gross and grisly, like they can in the life of a fire-bellied newt.

Many amphibians are known for their regenerative abilities. If they lose a toe or a tail, they can grow back. Fire-bellied newts are like that, but on a whole new, unbelievable level. In experiments, newts have been shown to regenerate their eyes 18 times in a row over a span of 16 years and each time the new eyes were as pristine as the originals. 

Newts are able to survive and regenerate from remarkable injuries that would kill most other life forms, like a damaged spinal cord. Hypoxia, the lack of oxygen in tissues that causes things like brain death, is overcome by some newts that can even generate new brain tissue to repair the organ afterward. Even damage to the heart can be overcome, with newts able to regenerate from damage to 10% and up to 20% of their heart tissue.