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
Sharks’ and dolphins’ reputations need to be switched.
Image source: mermaidcamryn, Pixabay/Pexels
#2
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 source: glizzy_monke, Hung Tran/Pexels
#3
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 source: iamaweaponagainstmyself, Tom Swinnen/Pexels
#4
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 source: mina6d, Pixabay/Pexels
#5
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 source: dun.it.again, Pixabay/Pexels
#6
An octopus can fit through anything as long as its larger than its mouth (which is a beak btw)
Image source: sacimkisametal, Pia B/Pexels
#7
A polar bear can smell prey over a distance of 25 km.
Image source: mainlelie, Pixabay/Pexels
#8
Jumping spiders remember faces. And can become friends if you’re nice.
Image source: some_car_enthusiast_, Ganjarmustika1904
#9
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 source: avehawkes, Totti
#10
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 source: indy_gator_is_perfect, Yaşar Başkurt/Pexels
#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 source: maggot_33008, Melvin TOULLEC
#12
So sloths can technically stretch out their limbs. Head included. To about an extra 3 feet.
Image source: random_10234, Camilo Laverde/Pexels
#13
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 ☠️
Image source: kisa_tiva
#14
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.
Image source: eepipicat
#15
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 source: _ajax007, Pixabay/Pexels
#16
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.
Image source: _warachara_care
#17
The fur of a platypus glows under black light, and their bills can detect electric signals from prey.
Image source: eden_monkemeier, Charles J. Sharp
#18
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 source: adamhanyfata, Tejas Prajapati/Pexels
#19
Suriname Toads give birth to their babies out of their back. It’s just as horrific as it sounds.
Image source: i.am.bjk, Hugo Claessen
#20
Humans have caused 881 confirmed extinctions and 2372 possible extinctions AND 10,031 critically endangered species.
Image source: katyluv795
#21
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 source: hey.its.colden.here, Airam Dato-on/Pexels
#22
4 words: Crocodiles. Can. Climb. Trees.
Image source: seth_mutenda, Pixabay/Pexels
#23
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 source: nepoxon_mthem, Erik Karits/Pexels
#24
The lyrebird’s cry sounds like a baby crying probably causing some myths or mysteries within forests.
Image source: hunterhiskey, Dominic Sherony
#25
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.
Image source: multi_versegirl
#26
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 source: fakemountdew, Artem Lysenko/Pexels
#27
There’s a leech that can grow 18 inches long.
Image source: letstalkaboutthisish
#28
Cats are responsible for 33 endangered species.
Image source: thadarkside
#29
Crows and Corvids in general can remember human faces and have the emotional intelligence to hold grudges.
Image source: havoc.yyz0
#30
Before the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, insects would grow to the size of dogs. Just imagine the sound of their wings, terrifying.
Image source: oh_cb_
#31
Not a scary science fact but a cool one- sharks are older than trees, grass and the North Star.
Image source: subterranean_sebastian, GEORGE DESIPRIS/Pexels
#32
Elephants have pads under their feet, so if one walks behind you, you’ll think it’s just a human behind you.
Image source: c.andys, Connor kane/Pexels
#33
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 source: itsbaby_karrot, Charles J. Sharp
#34
Kimodo Dragons are not only the biggest lizard on the planet (coming in at 365 kg and being over 10ft) eating their prey is a 2-3 week game starting off my biring said animal and infecting it with poison that STOPS BLOOD CLOTS from forming (cant remember the actual name of the poison) but the Kimodo js lets it go and then stalks it and watches it for about a week while its continuously bleeding out, after about a week that wound gets infected, why? Becuase mixed with the eternally open wound to the elements Kimodo Dragons have extreme amounts of Bacteria and ROTTING FLESH in their mouth, after about another week this animal has lost a lot of blood, cant see straight, and the infected body party has starting spreading making it essentially a walk corpse, so the Kimodo finally waltzes over to the slowly dying but still alive animal and begins eating it alive. Sorry this was super long this was one of my favorite animals in 1st grade and still kinda is so enjoy!
Image source: stxr_grrl, abimanyu photowork/Pexels
#35
Bats are not blind.
Image source: jxxnito_
#36
A woodpeckers tongue is so long that is wraps behind its brain to protect it from the impact of pecking wood.
Image source: ishq_ramsaroop
#37
Hedgehogs give birth to their young when they already have spines.
Image source: _.gbss.__
#38
WE HAVE IVF THANKS TO SEA URCHINS!!!!
Image source: stephrallis, Kindel Media/Pexels
#39
Vampire bats kiss to share blood by digesting it into each other’s mouths.
Image source: thesharkman9, Uwe Schmidt
#40
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through the gills, and one circulates blood to the rest of the body.
Image source: _septlove
#41
Burrowing spiders keep little frogs in their burrow to protect their young from small insects that they can’t stop.
Image source: dawson.hughes.23, Dr. Raju Kasambe
#42
Probably that ducks will become cannibals out of sheer boredom.
Image source: lxke.stxcey.2103
#43
Hyenas are extremely intelligent, spotted hyenas regularly outperform chimpanzees on tests of cooperative problem solving.
Image source: thegaminghyena24
#44
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.
Image source: dandelionexoskeleton
#45
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 source: dennis.the_menac3, Leanè Jacobs/Pexels
#46
Not really a super scary fact but a big part of why the Pink River Dolphins in the Amazon are the color pink is because they get into aggressive disputes with each other often that leaves lots of scarring which ends up healing in the color pink. So a big part of the pink coloration is actually giant scars.
Image source: chakamonke
#47
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.
Image source: __ronzii__
#48
Gelatin comes from pig hooves. Next time you open a piece of candy, some of that came from a pig foot.
Image source: hollarsfordollars
#49
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.
Image source: swashzone757
#50
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.
Image source: fairyapothecarynotebook
#51
Kiwi birds have to re-arrange their organs and skeleton when laying an egg because it is so big.
Image source: leefoxi.ny
#52
Cicadas are mostly hollow and that hollow chamber has a set of many ribs. Instead of rubbing their limbs together to make sound they quickly “clack” their ribs together and the hollow cavity resonates the sound. :))))
Image source: gogosqueeze6475
#53
Tyrannosaurus Rex are speculated to have roars so low that if they weren’t extinct we’d feel them before we heard them.
Image source: issys217
#54
Polar bears have black skin.
Image source: magical_butterfly_1234
#55
There’s a species of armadillo that can grow up to 5ft in length and can weigh up to 150lbs. In other words it’s technically a big desert puppy.
Image source: kay__politan
#56
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.
Image source: michaela_zotter
#57
Hyenas are closer to cats than dogs.
Image source: shahishivam_
#58
Hippos will sometimes hunt zebras.
Image source: kate_baker64
#59
Spiders can’t see well, and that’s why they sometimes run towards us. They’re not chasing you, they just don’t know you’re there
Image source: vivitaxidermista
#60
A tiger stirps are on their skin not just their fur. If they were to shaved they would keep their stips.
Image source: kianturner98
#61
Cockroaches can actually bite.
Image source: mariel._svm
#62
Some bird species that live on high cliffs make their youngling jump in order to learn how to fly.
Image source: adamhanyfata
#63
Dog toys squeak to mimic prey screams.
Image source: villy.the.villain
#64
Bears don’t sleep all winter they actually wake up often and get food during the winter.
Image source: cardinliam
#65
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.
Image source: will_4e
#66
If you’re close enough to a whale underwater without ear protection, you can go deaf by the sound of their voice.
Image source: pardon.rain
#67
When catching smaller prey, dolphins generally gulp them up, but the larger the prey, the more dolphins like to “play” with their food. They have been spotted tossing seals, octopi, and other animals anywhere from twenty to eighty feet in the air before consuming them.
Image source: jasmine25769
#68
Tigers can jump up to 6 meters without running, just using the strength of their legs.
Image source: mah_beatoo
#69
Snakes can’t hear because they have no external ears. So our mothers lied to to us when they said not to whistle at night🙌
Image source: thavishya_20, Pixabay/Pexels
#70
I heard SNAKES are incapable of feeling love so if you have a pet snake just know it doesn’t bite cause it doesn’t see you as a threat it just TOLERATES you.
Image source: christopher.summers.359
#71
Lizards just don’t appear out of the blue, if you have lizards in your room it likely means there are cockroaches, flies, bugs around.
Image source: roshan._.bhattarai
#72
There a type of fig wasp that lays its eggs in a fig and the male larva hatch first then they go to their unborn sister larva and mate with them.
Image source: gabe_piez
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