CULTURE

Footer Column 2

Footer Legal

Footer Main

Nav Bar

OTHER

SPORTS

Subscribe, at any level, to play

Thanks for your interest in Defector Crosswords!

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Plans start at $8/month.

Subscribers enjoy unlimited, ad-free browsing.

Register to continue

Or click here to subscribe for unlimited, ad-free access!

Our gift to you: This year's post is unlocked. Register your email to get even more free articles.

Welcome to the 2025 Hater's Guide!

Just register your email:

This blog is free to read.

This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Sabrina Imbler

on a high-altitude cliff, a mountain goat intimidates a trio of bighorn sheep

Creaturefector

Mountain Goats Keep Winning

Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse avatar waving a bland hello except his bottom half is long trailing jellyfish tentacles

The Machines

We Can Do So Much Better Than Legs

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Barry Petchesky

Laura Wagner

Animals

We Saw A Bear

How Many Ants Is The Right Number Of Ants For There To Be?

A close up of the illustration of a fish barfing out a frog

Welcome To Jurassic Puke

A tiny orange frog sitting by a pool of water inside the leaf of a bromeliad plant.

Nowhere Is Safe From Our Garbage

A tiny pink snake attempting to swallow a giant centipede.

Why Do Snakes Eat Things Big Enough To Kill Them?

A general view of Trix the female the T-Rex exhibition at the Naturalis or Natural History Museum of Leiden on October 17, 2016 in Leiden, Netherlands. The skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex was excavated in 2013 in Montana, USA, by Naturalis Biodiversity Center. The fossil is part of the Naturalis collection and is more than 80% of the bone volume present. All essential and high­volume bones are in place. This places Trix in the top 3 ranking of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons in the world. In addition, all the bones are extremely well preserved. The quality of this fossil is unmatched by any other large T-Rex find in the world.

The T. Rex Species Saga, Explained

Let The Shipworms Eat Captain Cook’s Ship, It’s What Everyone Involved Deserves

Freya The Walrus Should Still Be Alive

Two brown-lipped snails, cepea nemoralis, on the concrete.

I Must Protect The Snails In My Backyard From Myself

A screenshot of a pink spaghetti worm glimpsed on the deep sea by a Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute ROV

Do You Dare Twirl Your Fork In The Spaghetti Worm?

ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN - JULY 27: Dan Campbell, head coach of the Detroit Lions during the Detroit Lions Training Camp on July 27, 2022 in Allen Park, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

What Creature Does Dan Campbell Think Would Be Great At Football?

A straight line of rectangular holes in the seafloor, with the metal parts of a remotely operated vehicle visible at the bottom of the image.

Let Me Stick My Hand Inside The Mysterious Holes On The Seafloor

A mysterious jellyfish with one long tentacle

Silence The Terrors Of The Terrestrial World With NOAA’s Deep-Sea Livestream

The new fossil fish, Qikiqtania wakei, with its famous cousin Tiktaalik below.

New Fossil Fish Flirted With The Idea Of Legs But Kept On Swimming

The stingray Potamotrygon jabuti, collected from the Tapajós river.

Rays Week

Where Did All These Freshwater Stingrays Come From?

A manta ray perches at a cleaning station, where tiny fish clean its skin. The Ray Week logo is also here in the bottom left corner, featuring easter egg remoras.

The Ocean’s Hottest Club Is A Manta Ray

A deep-sea cusk eek in the family Bassozetus glimpsed in the Central Pacific Basin.

New Assfish Photo Just Dropped

A ocellate river stingray swimming, along with a logo for Rays Week.

Stingrays Can Do Math. But Why Would They?

Every Animal On The Wikipedia Page For “Apparent Death,” Ranked By How Dead They Appear

The newly described Malagasy litterhopper, Valalyllum folium.

New Leaf-Like Insect Just Dropped

A pigeon nest comprising of a single stick and egg on top of a bed.

Birdfector

Why Do Pigeon Nests Look So Shitty? An Investigation

A small giant squid frozen into the shape of a cube

What’s Inside The Squid Cube?

A tick is photographed in the laboratory of the INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) which constitutes a "tiquothèque" to study its geographical distribution, the presence of disease, the development of the Lyme disease on September 28, 2018 in Champenoux, eastern France. - The laboratory appeals to the private individuals to collect the ticks having pricked them. (Photo by JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP) (Photo by JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP via Getty Images)