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Defector

Animals

Creaturefector

Science

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


Sabrina Imbler

a photo of a flock of whitish swimming sea cucumbers in the deep sea

It’s Snowing Sea Cucumbers At The Bottom Of The Sea

an image of a fly larva (maggot) that has the face of a termite

Hell Yeah: This Maggot Has A Face On Its Butt

a baby loggerhead turtle does a happy turtle dance inside a bucket of water

Are You Entranced By The Turtle Dance?

A Blue Whale swimming underwater is showing her tail fin

Cautious Whales Sing In A Whisper Orcas Cannot Hear

a chimpanzee stares out between the leaves

Chimpanzee Culture Is Disappearing Because Of Us

a pink Amazon River Dolphin floating on back in slightly brown water

Think River Dolphins Don’t Piss On Each Other? Urine For A Surprise

a tiger named Elena seemingly retching after she has just sampled elephant dung

Normalize Eating Poop

a hummingbird visiting a flower with itty-bitty white mites on its beak

A Mite’s Leap Of Electric Faith Into A Hummingbird Nostril

a gif of a little frog called a cricket frog leaping across the surface of the water, but becoming entirely submerged when it lands

This Frog Is In Its Belly Flop Era

a small brown shrew called the Mount Lyell shrew in a natural environment

Much Ado About Shrew

a silvery fish called a delta smelt in a litle cup

Politics

This Week In Maligned Little Fish

Tahlequah Grieves Again

A photo of a brown armored catfish that has been named the blob-headed catfish for its extremely sizable blob-shaped face/schnoz region

Blob-Headed Fish Sets New Standard Of Fishy Blobbiness

A still from a video capturing a red male cardinal staring menacingly at his reflection in the side-view mirror of a white car

Birdfector

It’s So Confusing Sometimes To Be A Bird

Who Was The Fly Who Died In My House?

A clam known as a heart cockle, which is shaped like a heart with a red-and-white striped border, against a white background

There Are Clam Cathedrals Everywhere For Those With The Eyes To See

A somewhat haunting magenta sphere with what appears to be a mouth and a series of spikes. this is a reconstruction of the ancient creature Saccorhytus

Was This Half-Billion-Year-Old Wrinkled Sack With No Anus, Previously Believed To Be Our Earliest Ancestor, Actually A Baby Penis Worm?

Life reconstruction of Ninumbeehan dookoodukah in a palaeoenvironment reconstruction depicting its life and burrowing across seasons. (a) Ninumbeehan is resting on the edge of a river with a low water table as the wet season ends. (b) A small community of Ninumbeehan are in their estivation burrows at the apex of the arid season. (c) The onset of the humid season brings rain, triggering a mass emergence of Ninumbeehan from their estivation burrows.

How A Sleepy Ancient Amphibian Became A Link To An Endangered Language

An Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) licks nectar from the Ethiopian red hot poker flower (Kniphofia foliosa). the wolf is really into it

These Beautiful Wolves Are Freaks For Nectar

a profile shot of a mummified saber-tooth kitten, which looks like a big brown cat

This Saber-Toothed Kitten Mummy Is So Stinking Cute That I’m Gonna Cry!

a pygmy seahorse that is red and pink with little bumps on its body hides in a coral that looks exactly like it

A Small And Beautiful Seahorse Reveals An Even Smaller And Reclusive Worm

a mossy stick insect of the species Trychopeplus mashpiensis dangling from some moss

Mossy Stick Insect STUNS In New Photos

Two elephants interacting with a water hose. one is attempting to shower with it and the other is gripping it tightly in her trunk

The Shower Beef Between Elephant Mary And Elephant Anchali, Explained

Creature Drops: A Big Baby From Patagonia

An African giant pouched rat in a little red vest, yellow collar, and little silver bell sits on a person's lap