Beefector

Birdfector

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

Animals

Creaturefector

Science

Becky Ferreira is a science reporter based in Ithaca, N.Y. She writes <a href="https://www.404media.co/author/becky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.404media.co/author/becky/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1740083778769000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_mk31dNhas5lklZb38a6k">The Abstract</a>, a weekly science column for 404 Media. Her book First Contact, about the search for alien life, <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/becky-ferreira/first-contact/9781523527755/">is available now.</a>

Becky Ferreira

Which Pests Shall Inherit The Earth?

Alex Sujong Laughlin

An Interview With My Cat About His Most Annoying Behaviors 

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

I Tried A Cockatoo’s Innovative New Snack

This Is The Last Thing You See Before You Die (If You Are A Crab)

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

Barry Petchesky

What Did She See, At The End?

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

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

Groundhog handler AJ Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil after he did not see his shadow predicting an early Spring during the 138th annual Groundhog Day festivities on Friday February 2, 2024 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day is a popular tradition in the United States and Canada. Over 40,000 people spent a night of revelry awaiting the sunrise and the groundhog's exit from his winter den. If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his den. Dereume is wearing a top hat and has a grey beard and he's in a black coat.

Here’s A Supercut Of Groundhog Day In Punxsutawney

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

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?

I Have Created A Turkey Fiend

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.