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Defector

Animals

Creaturefector

Science

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


Sabrina Imbler

A prehistoric tully monster, looks like a squid with stalked eyes and a jointed trunk with a toothy pincer mouth at the end.

The Mystery Of The Tully Monster Will Never Be Solved

A dung-rolling weevil in the genus Tentegia props up a piece of marsupial dung

Rookie Dung-Roller Is Learning On The Job

Two firefighters attempt to free a red squirrel, whose head is stuck inside a manhole cover

History Repeats: Red Squirrel Gets STUCK In Manhole Cover In Germany, Just Four Years After Similar Squirrel’s Manhole Stranding

a photo of a coprolite (fossil poop) with bite marks taken out of it

Behold An Ancient Fish’s Moment Of Sheer Regret

two gloved hands holding a mummified brown squirrel in the shape of a perfect sphere

What’s Inside The Fur Sphere?

A series of holes in the mud of the deep seafloor

One Creator Of Mysterious Seafloor Holes Is Revealed, But Other Remains At Large

Close up of the face of a white male Beluga whale in aquarium.

What Was She Thinking? An Investigation

A Sumatran orangutan swings on a rope at the safari park and zoo in Jantho, Aceh province on October 10, 2021. (Photo by CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP) (Photo by CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Apes Spin On Vines To Get High Because They Haven’t Discovered Whippits

A diagram showing how much shorter the extinct fish Dunkleosteus was to a great white shark, with a weenie human for comparison.

More Like Chunkleosteus

A droplet of pee being ejected from the behind of an insect called a sharpshooter

Pee Pee Pew Pew!

Hedgehog adult sitting amongst autumn leaves and Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria

Thorvald, World’s Oldest European Hedgehog, Was Killed By Dog At Age 16

A photo of a new species of voiceless frog, pictured here sitting on a leaf with hands politely clasped together. The frog is golden green with some silvery-gold mottling.

A Quest For A Beautiful Toad Instead Discovers A Silent Frog

A naked mole rat queen stands inside a transparent tunnel.

Meet Pittsburgh’s Extraordinary Naked Mole-Rat Queens

A chimpanzee beckoning with an outstretched hand.

Let Me Hold Your Hand While I Eat Bugs Out Of Your Hair

A mother killer whale and her small son (soon to be big)

Large Adult Orca Sons Are A Terrible Burden On Their Poor Mothers

A closely packed colony of Apis dorsata giant honeybees

Whoopsies! Fossil From The Dawn Of Life Actually Just Bees

A domestic pigeon that has been dyed pink with hair dye.

Justice For Flamingo, Who Did Not Consent To Being Dyed Pink

An extremely fluffy gray cat called the Pallas Cat snarling at the camera

World’s Crankiest Cat Found On World’s Tallest Mountain

A paleoart illustration of the pterosaur Balaenognathus maeuseri, showing a creature with a long bill that tapers to a flat end, lots of tiny verticle teeth, and a red beady eye staring out from an orange and blue face.

Now That’s What I Call Teeth!

A Sloane's viperfish, a deep-sea fish with iridescent scales and very big teeth

This Hole Is Full Of Viperfishes

More Scientific Images Should Go This Hard

An aggressive insect approaches a hapless honeybee on a purple flower.

It’s A Bee Brawl In The Flower Patch!

A mated pair of glass frogs sleeping on the underside of a leaf, their bodies translucent and dark hearts beating softly.

How The Glass Frog Hides Its Blood

<p>A. Frog is a freelance writer living in Japan.</p>


A. Frog

A Caravaggio-esque photo of a tree frog being stung inside the mouth by the two-pronged genital spines of a wasp. Ouch!

I Messed Up

An illustration of the absolute unit of a wombat, the extinct Ramsayia, standing next to a puny modern wombat.