There are over two million animal species that scientists have identified and described, with many more still undiscovered. A lot of them are the kind we instantly find adorable—fluffy, cuddly, and sweet. But with such an enormous variety, there are also those that can be unsettling or behave in ways that seem downright bizarre.
That’s exactly what Ryan Michaels tapped into when he asked people on Instagram to share a scary science fact about animals or bust a myth about them we grew up believing. What he got back were responses that were as fascinating as they were unnerving. Scroll down to see some of the best ones.
#1
Ravens work with wolves. They find prey and lead wolves to it. while wolves hunt, ravens wait with the wolf pups. After the hunt, they share the food.
Image credits: iamaweaponagainstmyself
#2
Some animals, such as tigers, can produce infrasound, sound so low you feel it. It can cause “zaps” of pain, headaches, an impending sense of doom, extreme fear and more side effects
Image credits: dun.it.again
#3
Jumping spiders remember faces. And can become friends if you’re nice.
Image credits: some_car_enthusiast_
#4
A polar bear can smell prey over a distance of 25 km.
Image credits: mainlelie
#5
Sharks' and dolphins' reputations need to be switched.
Image credits: mermaidcamryn
#6
An octopus can fit through anything as long as its larger than its mouth (which is a beak btw)
Image credits: sacimkisametal
#7
Crows and Corvids in general can remember human faces and have the emotional intelligence to hold grudges.
#8
A specific type of jellyfish called the Turritopsis Dohrnii, can reprogramme the identity of its own cells - returning to an earlier stage of its life. Meaning they are biologically immortal.
Image credits: avehawkes
#9
There’s a parasite that crawls into a fish’s mouth, eats its tongue, then becomes the new tongue, the fish lives using the parasite to eat.
Image credits: glizzy_monke
#10
4 words: Crocodiles. Can. Climb. Trees.
Image credits: seth_mutenda
#11
Hairy frogs, or wolverine frogs, are incredibly aggressive and will attack small birds and even humans. They do this by breaking their own bones and pushing it through the skin to use as claws! (Wolverine frog 🔥)
Image credits: maggot_33008
#12
There used to 9 or more species of humans 300,000 years ago.
There is only 1 now.
This is also likely where the uncanny valley phenomenon comes from, we had to fear something that looks human but wasn’t “us”
Image credits: indy_gator_is_perfect
#13
T rexs had soft padding on their feet. So unlike the movies where they're shown stomping around and causing the water in the glass to vibrate, their footsteps could almost never be felt. They also did not have loud roars but rather a much lower roar that could only be felt. So yeah imagine THAT stalking you millions of years ago after sundown.
#14
The Cordyceps fungus that infects insects & makes them move around is actually attacking everything but the brain. Meaning they are fully aware of what’s happening but can’t do anything about it. Like they’ve lost control of the ride & are puppets in their own bodies. The creepiest thing is they only attack bugs & things of the same size & smaller because they have an abundance.. the only thing separating us from this fungus is 10 degrees.. but some say that with the rising temperatures of our planet, if they decide to adapt to a higher a temp, they can easily effect us in the future ☠️
#15
The fur of a platypus glows under black light, and their bills can detect electric signals from prey.
Image credits: eden_monkemeier
#16
Humans have caused 881 confirmed extinctions and 2372 possible extinctions AND 10,031 critically endangered species.
#17
Centipedes have cat personalities. You can talk to them and pet them, we could cuddle them if they werent so tiny. And they clean themselves by licking.
Image credits: mina6d
#18
The wasps inject their venom into the ladybugs and use it as a babysitter. The ladybugs becomes like zombie and guard for the wasps egg until it hatches When the baby wasp hatches, it uses the still-alive ladybug as a bodyguard and slowly strats eating it from the inside.
Image credits: _ajax007
#19
We simply do not know where Whale Sharks go to birth their young. In addition to how little we know about their mating rituals as there are very few recorded cases of it being caught in the wild, tagged Whale Sharks are found migrating somewhere off of the coast of the Galápagos Islands, dive upwards of 300+ feet to where we lose track of them and they simply vanish. We are still actively searching for the nursery in which Whale Sharks have their young.
Image credits: hey.its.colden.here
#20
So sloths can technically stretch out their limbs. Head included. To about an extra 3 feet.
Image credits: random_10234
#21
Dolphins don’t have fins. Their fins have bones that resemble a hand with fingers, like humans do. Thats also because they’re mammals. If you search Dolphins fin bones images you will see that they used to have hands before it evolved into fins.
#22
Botflies Can Live Inside Your Skin — and You Might Not Know
Botflies lay eggs on human skin (often using mosquitoes as delivery). The larvae burrow into your flesh and grow inside you, feeding on your tissue.
Image credits: nepoxon_mthem
#23
Not a scary science fact but a cool one- sharks are older than trees, grass and the North Star.
Image credits: subterranean_sebastian
#24
Axolotls can grow parts of their brain back and can also become fully terrestrial under extreme circumstances. Also seahorses doesn't have a stomach.
Image credits: fakemountdew
#25
The lyrebird's cry sounds like a baby crying probably causing some myths or mysteries within forests.
Image credits: hunterhiskey
#26
In some deer duels the horns can get stuck and both deers struggle usually resulting in either of them perishing and their heads remaining on the other's horns.
Image credits: adamhanyfata
#27
Hyenas are closer to cats than dogs.
#28
Turtles are depicted as being able to pop out of their shells in cartoons. Their ribs and vertebrae are actually fused to the shell so they can’t get out of their shell. They breathe by organ shifting, which is exactly what it sounds like: their organs move back and forth allowing their lungs to expand and contract. If you get close to a turtle and it hides in its shell, you often hear a hiss. The turtle isn’t trying to intimidate you—air is being squeezed out of its lungs when it pulls its head and paws in.
#29
Cats are responsible for 33 endangered species.
#30
Before the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, insects would grow to the size of dogs. Just imagine the sound of their wings, terrifying.
#31
Saltwater crocodiles, as well as other crocs and gators, are the closest things we have to dinosaurs, since they have gone millions of years with little evolutionary changes, meaning that their biology and physiology is so optimally suited for their survival, nature saw no need to change them. Saltwater crocodiles also possess the strongest bite force on the globe(~2500 psi), able to crush skulls and bite through bone.
#32
Hyenas are extremely intelligent, spotted hyenas regularly outperform chimpanzees on tests of cooperative problem solving.
#33
When you are somewhere that crocodiles live and you have to go to the waters edge (camping etc.) never go to the same spot twice. Crocs are extremely intelligent and will pick up on your routine quick. They will lay and wait for you. They can hold their breath for several hours too.
#34
A woodpeckers tongue is so long that is wraps behind its brain to protect it from the impact of pecking wood.
#35
Elephants have pads under their feet, so if one walks behind you, you'll think it's just a human behind you.
Image credits: c.andys
#36
WE HAVE IVF THANKS TO SEA URCHINS!!!!
Image credits: stephrallis
#37
Suriname Toads give birth to their babies out of their back. It’s just as horrific as it sounds.
Image credits: i.am.bjk
#38
The starfish can evert its stomach to digest prey outside its body.
When a starfish eats something like a mussel or clam, it pries the shell open just slightly, then it vomits its own stomach out of its mouth, inserts it into the shell, and digests the prey alive from the inside. Once it's done slurping up the liquefied insides, it pulls its stomach back in like nothing happened.
Imagine being eaten from the inside while still trapped in your own home.
#39
Gelatin comes from pig hooves. Next time you open a piece of candy, some of that came from a pig foot.
#40
The assassin bug can stab its prey with a needle-like mouthpart, injecting saliva that liquefies their insides — then it drinks them like a smoothie.
Image credits: itsbaby_karrot
#41
snakes do not "size up" with their prey to see if they can eat them. theyre opportunistic hunters, if it smells like food and looks like food they go for it in less than a second. they literally do not have the brain power to scheme or plot to eat something 💀 its called opportunistic hunting.
#42
Bats are not blind.
#43
Since we too are animals somehow... Humans produce bioluminescence. We can not see it without using special equipment and it has no use (evolutionarily speaking) but I think it's pretty nice. Is it scary? No... But it'd be one of very few things that just happened without being somehow important.
#44
Vampire bats kiss to share blood by digesting it into each other's mouths.
Image credits: thesharkman9
#45
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through the gills, and one circulates blood to the rest of the body.
#46
Burrowing spiders keep little frogs in their burrow to protect their young from small insects that they can’t stop.
Image credits: dawson.hughes.23
#47
There’s a leech that can grow 18 inches long.
#48
Some parasitic wasps species have incorporated viruses into there genome and can create swarms of virions just like an actual virus. They’re called viriforms and attack the immune system of caterpillars.
#49
Tyrannosaurus Rex are speculated to have roars so low that if they weren't extinct we'd feel them before we heard them.
#50
Ik y'all prolly know this one but mama bunnies will eat their babies when stressed out oh and the reason why pork needs to be cooked all the way through is cause it could contain parasites 😃
Image credits: dennis.the_menac3
