Department
Nature
Animals, bodies and the natural world. 226 case files (44 cross-filed from other departments).
DID YOUKNOW?Feeling Froggy?DD-758
Feeling Froggy?
The wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus), found across North America from the American Midwest and southern Canada to Interior Alaska, can survive with about 65-70% of its body water frozen. While frozen it shows no heartbeat, breathing or circulation. It builds up urea before winter and floods its tissues with glucose from the liver when ice starts to form; both act as cryoprotectants that limit ice formation and cell shrinkage. When temperatures rise in spring, the frog thaws, its heart starts beating again, and normal functions resume. The footage, credited to Nat Geo Animals, shows wood frogs in water and a close-up of a frog's eye.
DID YOUKNOW?CryoBrandingDD-006
CryoBranding
Some horses are branded with -196 °C cold instead of fire, and the hair grows back snow-white in the brand's shape.
DID YOUKNOW?Elytra LiftDD-737
Elytra Lift
A ladybird's spotted elytra are hardened forewings. Its membranous hindwings do the flying and fold away beneath the elytra when not in use. In 2017, Kazuya Saito and colleagues at the University of Tokyo replaced one elytron of a seven-spot ladybird with a transparent artificial one to watch the folding. The beetle closes its elytra and then moves its abdomen repeatedly, while the elytron's edge and underside guide the wing along set fold lines. The process takes about two seconds. The wing's veins act like a tape spring, which helps it snap open for flight.
DID YOUKNOW?CrabMaxxingDD-735
CrabMaxxing
In northeastern China, especially around Panjin in Liaoning, farmers stock Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis) in rice paddies. Studies there report that the crabs help control weeds and some rice diseases. Fields can match or slightly exceed monoculture rice yields while using less fertilizer nitrogen, and the crabs are harvested as a second, valuable crop. Researchers have also studied how crab stocking density affects the yields of both rice and crabs.
DID YOUKNOW?Heavenly LakeDD-019
Heavenly Lake
Namtso (Nam Co) in central Tibet sits 4,718 m (15,479 ft) above sea level, almost 3 miles up. It's often called the world's highest saltwater lake. Its Tibetan name means 'heavenly lake', and it's one of Tibet's sacred lakes, with the snow-capped Nyenchen Tanglha range rising along its southern shore.
DID YOUKNOW?The VaultDD-015
The Vault
Vaults are giant, hollow, barrel-shaped particles made of protein and RNA. They're found in the cytoplasm of most eukaryotic cells, with about 10,000 in a typical human cell. Each one is a 12.9-megadalton shell made of 78 copies of the major vault protein, built as two identical 39-protein halves. It also carries smaller partners (VPARP, TEP1 and vault RNA). Nearly 40 years after their discovery in 1986, nobody knows for sure what vaults do.
DID YOUKNOW?Canadian WildfiresDD-730
Canadian Wildfires
Canada's 2023 wildfire season was the largest since national records began, burning about 15 million hectares (the widely reported 18.5 million was a preliminary operational figure). That's more than double the previous record of 6.7 million hectares in 1989 and roughly 4% of Canada's forest area. Lightning started 59% of the roughly 6,700 fires but accounted for 93% of the area burned. More than 200 communities were evacuated, and smoke degraded air quality in cities more than 1,000 km away, including on the U.S. east coast.
DID YOUKNOW?Whale MilkDD-729
Whale Milk
Baleen whale milk at mid-lactation is about 30-50% fat, 9-15% protein and only 40-53% water. Toothed whales and dolphins produce thinner milk, about 10-30% fat. Whales have no external nipples; their teats sit inside mammary slits, and the mother squirts milk into the calf's mouth. Its thickness keeps it from dispersing in seawater, and a blue whale calf can gain over 100 kg a day. The richest-milk record, though, belongs to seals such as the hooded seal, not whales.
DID YOUKNOW?The Glacier That BleedsDD-725
The Glacier That Bleeds
Blood Falls is a sporadic outflow of brine at the snout of Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, where the glacier ends at ice-covered Lake Bonney. Griffith Taylor found it in 1911, and its color was first blamed on red algae. The source is ancient seawater, concentrated by freezing and sealed beneath the glacier. Estimates range from about 1.5 million years of isolation (for the microbes living in it) to a Pliocene origin about 5 million years ago. The brine is salty, iron-rich and has no detectable oxygen. When it reaches the air, dissolved ferrous iron oxidizes into iron-rich nanospheres that stain the ice red as the brine drops 60 to 80 feet to the lake shore. A 2017 radar survey traced a brine pathway more than 300 feet long inside the glacier, making Taylor the coldest known glacier with persistently flowing water.
DID YOUKNOW?Fish FatteningDD-723
Fish Fattening
Bluefin tuna 'fattening' or ranching is capture-based aquaculture: wild tuna are caught, usually by purse seine, towed in cages to farms and fed for months before harvest, mainly for the Japanese sashimi market. In the Mediterranean, farms feed defrosted sardines, herring, mackerel and squid. Daily rations run about 2-10% of the caged biomass, and one Greek farm reported 5-8% of body weight a day at the start, falling to 2-3% near harvest. Feed conversion is poor, around 10-20 kg of baitfish per kg gained, because only about 5% of the energy goes into growth. Much of the gain is fat, which raises the price.
DID YOUKNOW?Alsomitra macrocarpaDD-721
Alsomitra macrocarpa
Alsomitra macrocarpa, sometimes called the Javan cucumber and formerly named Zanonia macrocarpa, is a climbing gourd of the Malesian forests, notably Indonesia's Sunda Islands. Its football-sized fruits hang high in the canopy and hold hundreds of seeds. Each seed is set in two papery wing membranes spanning about 13 cm, which Guinness lists as the world's largest winged seeds. When released, the seeds glide in a gently undulating flight called a phugoid. In 1897 the German professor Friedrich Ahlborn studied the seed's self-stabilizing shape. That work inspired Igo Etrich's 1904 tailless glider and, through it, the wing of the Etrich Taube, which first flew in 1910.
DID YOUKNOW?Reservoir RuinDD-718
Reservoir Ruin
Lake Mead (behind Hoover Dam) and Lake Powell (behind Glen Canyon Dam) are the two largest reservoirs in the United States, and both are fed by the Colorado River. The 1922 Colorado River Compact divided the river's water based on early-20th-century flows that later proved unusually wet. After a long drought, the Bureau of Reclamation declared the first-ever Lower Basin shortage in 2021. The 2007 operating guidelines expired at the end of 2026, and in August 2026 Reclamation adopted a new 2027-2036 framework, though the basin states didn't reach consensus. As of October 16, 2026, gauge data put Mead at about 26% full (1,037.43 ft, a record low) and Powell at about 23% full. Deliveries to the Lower Basin states will be cut by 1.25 million acre-feet in 2027.
DID YOUKNOW?Plitvice PureDD-717
Plitvice Pure
Plitvice Lakes, in Croatia's Dinaric karst, are a chain of lakes linked by waterfalls. The water is supersaturated with calcium carbonate, which settles out with help from mosses, algae and bacteria to build porous tufa (travertine) barriers that dam the lakes. These barriers are the park's UNESCO 'outstanding universal value'. The water is clear and low in nutrients (oligotrophic), and tufa forms only when dissolved organic carbon stays low. Croatia proclaimed Plitvice its first national park on April 8, 1949, UNESCO inscribed it on October 26, 1979, and the park was enlarged in 1997 to just under 300 km².
DID YOUKNOW?StomataDD-715
Stomata
Stomata are microscopic pores, each bordered by a pair of guard cells, that control a plant's intake of carbon dioxide and its loss of water vapor. Guard cells open the pore by taking up ions and water and swelling, and they close it when they lose turgor, for example in response to the drought hormone abscisic acid (ABA). Open stomata cover only about 5% of the leaf surface, but they're the main route of water loss (transpiration). Stomatal behavior shapes the global water and carbon cycles, and stomata appear in fossils from about 400 million years ago.
DID YOUKNOW?Eye of the StormDD-712
Eye of the Storm
NOAA describes a hurricane's eye as a relatively calm, generally clear area of sinking air, typically 20 to 40 miles across, where winds usually stay under 15 mph. An eye usually forms once sustained winds pass 74 mph. Air flowing out of the top of the eyewall partly turns inward and sinks, warming and drying as it falls, which clears the clouds. The calm doesn't reach the sea, though. The National Hurricane Center's mariner's guide warns that in the eye of a strong storm, seas are near their maximum height and come from several directions, which can produce rogue waves. Eyes vary a lot in size. In 2005, Air Force reconnaissance found Hurricane Wilma's eye had shrunk to about 2 nautical miles across.
DID YOUKNOW?EukaryoticDD-003
Eukaryotic
Your cells are packed with tiny organs: a tour of the specialized organelles inside every eukaryotic cell.
DID YOUKNOW?Resting RosieDD-709
Resting Rosie
Rosie is a preserved great white shark, about 5 m long, now on show at Crystal World Exhibition Centre in Devon Meadows, Victoria, Australia. She was caught in tuna nets off South Australia in 1997 or 1998 (sources differ) and couldn't be freed. She was then preserved whole in formaldehyde at Wildlife Wonderland, a park in Bass, Victoria. When that park closed in 2012, she was left behind in a shed. Late in 2018, urban explorer Luke McPherson's video of her went viral. Trespassers followed and damaged the tank, which let toxic formaldehyde escape. Crystal World's owner, Tom Kapitany, took her on, and she was craned out and moved on February 21, 2019. Her formaldehyde has since been replaced with glycerol.
DID YOUKNOW?Mount BoktyDD-706
Mount Bokty
Bokty is an isolated, trapezoid-shaped remnant mountain (an inselberg) in Kazakhstan's Mangystau region, about 90 km from Zhanaozen. It's protected within the Mangystau State Historical and Cultural Reserve. Local tourism sources say it stands 165 m high and that its name means 'pie' in Kazakh, after its cake-like layers. The bands are marine sediments laid down on an ancient sea floor and later carved by wind and water. The white layers are chalk, and the red and brown ones are colored by iron. Nearby, the Kyzylkup tract shows the same striping and is nicknamed 'Tiramisu'. The mountain looks like an upturned boat from one side and a striped pyramid from another, and it appears on Kazakhstan's 1,000-tenge banknote.
DID YOUKNOW?Battling BarnaclesDD-705
Battling Barnacles
Barnacles are crustaceans that cement themselves to hard surfaces, including ship hulls, as part of 'biofouling' along with slime, algae and other organisms. A 2007 study by Michael Schultz of the US Naval Academy, modeling a mid-sized naval frigate, predicted that heavy calcareous fouling such as barnacles and tubeworms raises the shaft power needed at cruising speed by up to 86%. Even slime films brought significant penalties. Hulls are protected with antifouling coatings and cleaned in dry dock or in the water by divers and robots. In-water cleaning has its own risks. The IMO's 2023 Biofouling Guidelines warn it can damage coatings and release invasive species and toxic coating debris. They say heavier fouling should be removed with systems that capture the debris.
DID YOUKNOW?The Caracal's EarDD-041
The Caracal's Ear
The caracal, a medium-sized wild cat of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, gets its name from the Turkish 'karakulak', meaning 'black ears'. Each tall, black-tufted ear is moved by about 20 muscles in three groups (humans have six), so the two ears can swivel and tilt independently like satellite dishes. Cats in general can turn their outer ears through about 180° and hear high-frequency sounds well beyond human range, including the squeaks and rustles of rodents. Caracals are opportunistic hunters of rodents, birds, hyraxes and even small monkeys. The ear tufts may help funnel sound, but they're most often thought to signal to other caracals.
DID YOUKNOW?Three Whale RockDD-703
Three Whale Rock
Hin Sam Wan ('Three Whale Rock') is a group of sandstone outcrops on a cliff edge in the Phu Sing National Reserved Forest, Bueng Kan province, near the Mekong River and the border with Laos. Seen from above, the three elongated rocks look like a whale family: father, mother and calf. Tourism sources and Wikipedia call the formation 75 million years old. A geology write-up identifies the rock as quartz-rich sandstone of the Phu Phan Formation, laid down by rivers in the Early Cretaceous, about 125 to 113 million years ago. It suggests the 75-million figure more likely reflects later uplift and exposure. Only two of the 'whales' can be reached on foot, and the 'baby' can't. The Tourism Authority of Thailand singles out early-winter sunrises, especially in November.
DID YOUKNOW?Shark SenescenceDD-701
Shark Senescence
The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) lives in the cold, deep North Atlantic and Arctic. In 2016, Julius Nielsen and colleagues dated proteins in the core of the eye lens of 28 female sharks. Those proteins form before birth and aren't replaced. The team used radiocarbon, including the 'bomb pulse' from 1950s-60s nuclear tests, to estimate ages. The largest shark, 502 cm long, came out at 392 ± 120 years, which puts its likely age between 272 and 512 years. That makes the Greenland shark the longest-lived vertebrate known. The study also estimated that females reach sexual maturity at about 156 ± 22 years. Sharks like this grow only about 1 cm a year in near-freezing water.
DID YOUKNOW?Drone De-icingDD-699
Drone De-icing
Ice on power lines adds weight and can snap conductors or topple towers, as China's grid saw in the severe winter storms of early 2008. In January and February 2026, State Grid units in several Chinese provinces publicized drone-based de-icing during cold waves. In Shanxi, drones carrying insulating rods knocked ice off ultra-high-voltage lines (Xinhua). In Zhejiang, a DJI FC30 heavy-lift drone placed a robot on an overhead ground wire, where it broke ice by impact, knocking and rolling (China Daily). In Hubei, a 'flying de-icing robot' used vibration plus rotating blades on a ±800 kV line (ChinaNews). In Anhui, a drone-placed robot cleared about 20 m of iced wire in about a minute (CGTN). Utilities say the methods reduce the need for crews to climb towers or knock ice off by hand.
DID YOUKNOW?Dipping DipperDD-040
Dipping Dipper
The white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus) is Britain's only aquatic songbird, and its family, the dippers (Cinclidae), are the only passerines that feed underwater. A dipper walks down a rock into a fast stream, clamps onto the bed with long legs and sharp claws, and uses short, strong wings as flippers to push itself down against the current. Solid bones cut its buoyancy. An oversized preen gland waterproofs about 3,300 feathers, roughly twice a blackbird's count, and nasal flaps keep water out. Its blood carries extra hemoglobin, and its heart rate drops as it dives. It hunts mostly mayfly, stonefly and caddisfly larvae under the stones.
DID YOUKNOW?Water Forest ParkDD-027
Water Forest Park
At the north end of Qingshan Lake (Qingshanhu) in Hangzhou's Lin'an District, about 10,000 cypress trees stand with roughly two meters of their trunks underwater. The stand covers about 50,000 square meters, and the trees are pond cypress and bald cypress introduced from North America. Visitors walk boardwalks or paddle kayaks between the trunks. In summer, duckweed turns the water bright 'matcha' green, and in late autumn the needles go red and gold.
DID YOUKNOW?Water Table TroublesDD-071
Water Table Troubles
When pumping outpaces recharge, groundwater levels fall. The U.S. Geological Survey calls this groundwater depletion; effects include higher pumping costs, worse water quality, shrinking streams and lakes, and land subsidence. A 2024 Nature study of about 170,000 monitoring wells in 1,693 aquifer systems found rapid declines of more than 0.5 m a year to be widespread in the 21st century, especially in dry regions with extensive croplands. Declines had accelerated over four decades in 30% of the regional aquifers where a comparison was possible. The same study documented cases where levels recovered after policy changes, managed aquifer recharge or surface-water diversions. What usually can't be undone is compaction: when clay layers compress, the aquifer permanently loses storage, and the ground sinks.
DID YOUKNOW?Dead PoolsDD-049
Dead Pools
Brine pools are lakes on the seafloor: pockets of brine so dense they don't mix with the seawater above, complete with shorelines and even waterfalls. They form where seawater dissolves salt deposits buried under the seabed, such as the layers left when the ancient Gulf of Mexico evaporated, or the evaporites of the Red Sea rift. The best-known example, the Gulf of Mexico's 'Jacuzzi of Despair', lies about 1,000 m down and is about 30 m around. Its brine runs 80 to 110 psu (normal seawater is about 35). It's warm, nearly oxygen-free and charged with methane and hydrogen sulfide. Crabs, isopods and fish that wander in die, and their bodies are preserved along its rim.
DID YOUKNOW?Snake SupremeDD-694
Snake Supreme
Titanoboa cerrejonensis was a giant boid snake, a relative of today's boas and anacondas. Its fossils come from the Cerrejón coal mine in northeastern Colombia, in rocks 58 to 60 million years old, from the oldest known neotropical rainforest. Describing it in Nature in 2009, Jason Head and colleagues estimated it at about 13 m (43 ft) long and 1,135 kg. They also argued that a cold-blooded snake that size needed a mean annual temperature of about 30 to 34 °C. Later estimates run from about 12.8 to 14.3 m. In 2024, Vasuki indicus, a madtsoiid snake from India about 47 million years old, was estimated at 10.9 to 15.2 m. That makes it a possible rival, though Titanoboa's vertebrae are slightly larger.
DID YOUKNOW?Food Chain HazingDD-692
Food Chain Hazing
Lions and spotted hyenas are Africa's two largest carnivores. They eat many of the same prey, so they compete directly for food. Lions often kill hyenas and their cubs, but they usually don't eat them. The killing removes a competitor rather than providing a meal. In Namibia's Etosha National Park, lions caused 71% of recorded hyena deaths in a one-year study (Trinkel & Kastberger, 2005). The rivalry runs both ways. Spotted hyenas are skilled hunters that kill most of their own food, and in some places they take carcasses from lions, especially when no adult male lions are around. Hyenas also 'mob' lions in groups to drive them away from dens.
DID YOUKNOW?Hungarian Herding DogsDD-691
Hungarian Herding Dogs
The Puli (plural Pulik) is a medium-sized Hungarian sheepdog. The American Kennel Club says the Magyars brought it to Hungary more than a thousand years ago to herd sheep over rough ground, where it might even jump onto the animals' backs. The AKC standard gives a height of about 16-17 inches and 25-35 lb, in solid black, rusty black, gray or white. Its coat cords naturally from about 10-12 months old, and it can be shown corded or brushed out. The large, cream-white dog in this Reel's footage looks more like a Komondor, Hungary's other corded breed. The Komondor is a much bigger livestock guardian rather than a herder. It's always white, at least about 25.5-27.5 inches tall, and its coat mats into flat cords that owners must separate by hand. Hungary also has other herding breeds, such as the Pumi and Mudi, so the title's plural is apt. Both the Puli and the Komondor were nearly lost during the Second World War.
DID YOUKNOW?Bos GaurusDD-685
Bos Gaurus
The gaur (Bos gaurus) is the largest living wild bovine. It belongs to the cattle genus Bos, so the common Indian name 'Indian bison' is a misnomer, since true bison belong to the genus Bison. India's national studbook (Central Zoo Authority) gives adult bulls a typical shoulder height of about 1.6-2.0 m and a weight of about 600-1,000 kg (roughly 1,300-2,200 lb), with cows smaller at about 450-800 kg. A muscular ridge over the shoulders gives the back its humped profile, and both sexes carry curved horns. Gaur live in forests, forest edges and grassy clearings from India and Nepal through mainland Southeast Asia to the Malay Peninsula. The global population is estimated at 13,000-30,000, about 85% of them in India, and the species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. The gayal or mithun (Bos frontalis) is generally considered its domesticated form.
DID YOUKNOW?Arapaima GigasDD-684
Arapaima Gigas
Arapaima gigas (pirarucu) is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, native to the Amazon basin. FishBase gives a common length of about 2 m and maximum reports of 4.5 m and 200 kg. Very large historical records are poorly documented. It's an obligate air-breather. It uses a lung-like swim bladder and has to surface roughly every 5-15 minutes, which is a big part of why it has been easy to overfish. Its large overlapping scales have a hard mineralized outer layer over flexible layers of collagen fibers. Studies by Marc Meyers and colleagues found piranha teeth can't easily penetrate them. It feeds mainly on fish by suction, and birds or small animals are occasional prey. Taxonomy is unsettled. The genus Arapaima was long treated as a single species, but work by Donald Stewart (2013) revived and described additional species, such as A. leptosoma, so 'arapaima' doesn't always mean A. gigas. The IUCN lists A. gigas as Data Deficient.
DID YOUKNOW?Turtle TorporDD-683
Turtle Torpor
Turtles stay underwater in two quite different ways. Sea turtles, like the one in the footage, are air-breathers. They rely on oxygen stored in their lungs, blood and muscles, plus a low resting metabolism. A study of wild green turtles (Chelonia mydas) found they maximize time underwater on resting dives and then take five to seven breaths at the surface. Reviews of sea turtle diving report single breath-hold dives of over 10 hours. Absorbing oxygen from water is mainly a trick of some freshwater turtles. Australia's Fitzroy River turtle (Rheodytes leukops) pumps water through enlarged cloacal bursae. In the wild its dives averaged about 33 minutes and reached up to 623 minutes, and hatchlings got 63-73% of their oxygen from water. That works best in cool, oxygen-rich water. In warm summer water the same turtle becomes reliant on air. Some other species exchange gas through the lining of the mouth and throat.
DID YOUKNOW?One Incense PillarDD-682
One Incense Pillar
One Incense Pillar (Yizhuxiang, 'one stick of incense') is a limestone karst pillar in the Enshi Grand Canyon, a national 5A scenic area and geopark in Enshi, western Hubei. Scenic-area descriptions give it a height of 150 m, a base diameter of 6 m and a minimum diameter of 4 m. They attribute its stability to flat-lying Triassic limestone beds with high compressive strength. Tourism and media sources say it has withstood several major earthquakes, though I found no independent geological documentation of specific quakes. Local Tujia legend says a deity gave the pillar to the people as an incense stick to light in times of disaster. The canyon itself runs about 108 km.
DID YOUKNOW?Ursine UptimeDD-681
Ursine Uptime
'Walking hibernation' is a real term. The North American Bear Center describes it as the 2-3 weeks after bears leave the den, when they move around but eat and drink less than normal while their bodies return to summer levels. In a 2011 Science study, Øivind Tøien and colleagues continuously monitored black bears (Ursus americanus) in Alaska. They found the bears cut their metabolism to about 25% of the basal rate while body temperature fell only modestly, cycling between about 30 and 36 °C. Heart rate dropped from about 55 to as few as 9 beats per minute, and metabolism stayed reduced for up to three weeks after the bears emerged. Studies of brown bears in Sweden found body temperature normalized about 10 days after emergence, and heart rate took about a month. Black bears in closed dens go 5-7 months without eating, drinking, urinating or defecating, but mothers in open dens may lick meltwater and clean up after cubs.
DID YOUKNOW?Feminizing FrogsDD-679
Feminizing Frogs
Atrazine is a weedkiller widely used on US corn, sorghum and sugarcane. In 2002, Tyrone Hayes's lab at UC Berkeley reported that male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) raised in water with as little as 0.1 parts per billion of atrazine developed gonadal abnormalities, including hermaphroditism, and smaller larynxes. A 2010 study from the same lab found that exposed genetic males were demasculinized, and about 10% developed into functional females that laid eggs. Other labs, including studies funded by the manufacturer, did not consistently reproduce these effects. In 2007, the US EPA weighed 36 studies and concluded that atrazine does not produce consistent, reproducible effects on amphibian gonadal development. A 2010 review by Rohr and McCoy found fairly consistent sublethal effects on fish and amphibians, such as on metamorphosis and immune measures. The EU hasn't allowed atrazine since 2004, largely because of groundwater limits. The US still permits it, and in 2024 the EPA set its aquatic level of concern at 9.7 µg/L, based on aquatic plant communities.
DID YOUKNOW?Siwa Salt OasisDD-675
Siwa Salt Oasis
Siwa is an oasis town in Egypt's Matrouh Governorate, in a depression that reaches about 19 m below sea level. It lies about 50 km east of the Libyan border and 560 km from Cairo, and about 25,000-30,000 people live there. It has roughly 200 natural springs (one study counts 226) and several large salt lakes. Most springs draw on a shallow limestone aquifer, the Tertiary Carbonate Aquifer, which is moderately to highly saline. A 2026 study found that the shallow aquifer is recharged mainly by upward flow from the deep Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, whose 'fossil' paleowater is about 4,300 to 14,200 years old. Because Siwa is a closed basin, excess irrigation and drainage water has nowhere to go. The salt lakes grew from about 23 km² in 1990 to about 61 km² in 2020, and Egypt's water ministry calls waterlogging and salinity chronic problems. The vivid turquoise pools that visitors float in are very salty. The oasis was also home to the ancient oracle of Amun, which Alexander the Great visited.
DID YOUKNOW?Argyroneta AquaticaDD-670
Argyroneta Aquatica
The diving bell spider, Argyroneta aquatica, is generally described as the only spider that spends almost its whole life underwater. It lives in ponds and slow, plant-filled fresh water across Europe and northern Asia. It spins a silk sheet among water plants and fills it with air to make a 'diving bell'. It carries the air down from the surface as a silvery film trapped by hairs on its abdomen and legs, which is why it looks silver underwater. Inside the bell it rests, eats prey and molts, and females lay their eggs there. In 2011, Roger Seymour and Stefan Hetz reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology that the bell also works as a physical gill. Oxygen dissolved in the water diffuses into the bubble as the spider uses it up. In their measurements, that inflow could meet a resting spider's oxygen needs, even in warm, stagnant water. Nitrogen slowly diffuses out, so the bell shrinks and has to be topped up. The spider can stay down for more than a day rather than surfacing every 20 to 40 minutes, as had been thought. The footage shows the spider underwater, its body coated in a silver air bubble, among water plants.
DID YOUKNOW?Nature's ReclamationDD-066
Nature's Reclamation
The Reel retells a famous thought experiment popularized by journalist Alan Weisman's 2007 book The World Without Us. In his version of New York, the first big change comes underground: about 800 pumps that keep groundwater out of the subway would stop, and tunnels would flood within days. Freeze-thaw cycles would crack pavement for weeds and then trees, corroding steel would undermine streets and buildings over decades, and forest would cover much of the city within a couple of centuries. There is a real-world test case: Pripyat, near Chernobyl, abandoned in 1986, where trees are taking over streets and wildlife is thriving.
DID YOUKNOW?Tanzanian Half-MoonsDD-664
Tanzanian Half-Moons
Half-moons are semi-circular bunds, called demi-lunes in Francophone Africa. Each is a shallow basin dug in a crescent, with the dug-out soil piled into a low curved bank on the downslope side and the open side facing uphill. They're laid out in staggered rows along the contour so rain running off hard, crusted ground pools in each crescent and soaks in instead of washing away. FAO's water-harvesting manual describes them as a modern technique, not a traditional one, and gives an example from Niger's Tahoua region in the mid-1980s. Sizes vary from about 2 m in radius for crops and trees to 6-20 m for rangeland. In northern Tanzania, the Dutch nonprofit Justdiggit works with LEAD Foundation, Trias and Maasai communities in the Arusha and Manyara regions. It reports more than 50,000 'water bunds' dug there, along with grass seed banks and tree regrowth from old stumps. Results depend on rain, seeding and grazing control. A 2024 remote-sensing study of Kenyan and Tanzanian sites found mixed vegetation changes, and Justdiggit's own evaluation flags overgrazing as a risk.
DID YOUKNOW?Ant RaftingDD-662
Ant Rafting
Red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) come from the flood-prone wetlands of Brazil. When water rises, a colony can link itself into a floating raft that carries workers, brood and the queen. In a 2011 PNAS study, Mlot, Tovey and Hu of Georgia Tech filmed raft-building and measured how it works. Ants grip each other jaw-to-leg and leg-to-leg. A single ant's cuticle is only mildly water-repellent, but linking together boosts the colony's water repellency, much like weaving a waterproof fabric. Air trapped around and between the ants cut the raft's average density by about 75%, to about 0.2 g/mL. That trapped air also lets the ants on the bottom breathe, so they rarely drown. About half the ants form the bottom layer. Ants on top walk to the edge and get trapped there by their neighbors, which is how the raft grows. The paper describes rafts floating for days, and Hu's group told reporters they can last up to about three weeks, though most begin to fall apart after a week. Ants also build bridges, ladders and chains in the same way.
DID YOUKNOW?Vertical FarmingDD-657
Vertical Farming
In aeroponics, plant roots hang in the air inside a closed chamber and are sprayed or misted with nutrient solution. Aeroponic towers stack plants up a vertical column, with a pump lifting the solution to the top so it sprays or trickles down over the roots. NASA worked with AgriHouse on aeroponic research for space crops. A 2006 NASA Spinoff article reported up to 98% less water, 60% less fertilizer and no pesticides compared with soil growing, and yields 45-75% higher. Those figures come from NASA and the company, not independent field trials. Towers like those in the footage do best with leafy greens and herbs. The big catch for indoor vertical farms is energy for lighting and climate control, according to the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). Several heavily funded companies have struggled: AeroFarms filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023, and Bowery Farming shut down in November 2024.
DID YOUKNOW?MurmurationDD-653
Murmuration
Murmurations are the swirling pre-roost flocks of common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), usually seen on autumn and winter evenings. In 2008, the STARFLAG team in Rome reconstructed flocks of thousands of birds in 3D. They found each starling responds to a fixed number of nearest neighbors, about six or seven, rather than to every bird within a set distance. This 'topological' rule helps a flock stay together even as its density changes sharply under attack. A 2017 citizen-science study by Goodenough and colleagues analyzed thousands of UK reports. It found murmurations were bigger and lasted longer when predators such as peregrine falcons and sparrowhawks were around, which supports the 'safety in numbers' explanation. The study found little support for the idea that birds gather to keep warm. Studies of falcon attacks show waves of dark and light rippling away from the predator, and more waves were linked to fewer successful attacks. The idea that murmurations share information about feeding sites is still only a hypothesis.
DID YOUKNOW?Around the RainbowDD-651
Around the Rainbow
A rainbow isn't an object in a fixed place. It's a pattern of light that appears when sunlight enters falling drops, bends (refracts) going in, reflects once off the back of each drop, and bends again on the way out. Different colors leave at slightly different angles, so the drops that send light to your eye all sit about 40 to 42° from the antisolar point. That's the point directly opposite the sun, which is always where the shadow of your head falls. Every point on a circle at that angle around your shadow sends rainbow light to you, so the primary rainbow is a ring, red on the outside and violet on the inside. From the ground, the antisolar point is below the horizon whenever the sun is up. You see only the part of the circle above the ground, and only if there are raindrops there. When the sun is right on the horizon you get a half circle, and the higher the sun, the smaller the arc. Once the sun is higher than about 42°, no primary bow appears at ground level. From an airplane, a mountain or a tall building, drops can lie below you too, so you can sometimes see the whole ring. A glory is a different effect: smaller, tighter colored rings around the shadow of an aircraft on cloud. The footage shows a bright rainbow arcing down past the horizon toward the water below, filmed from high above a waterfront.
DID YOUKNOW?Tree ScalingDD-650
Tree Scaling
Climbing a vertical trunk is hard for an animal with no limbs, and biologists have studied how snakes do it in detail. In a 2020 review, Bruce Jayne of the University of Cincinnati described arboreal concertina locomotion. The snake grips a cylinder with alternating left and right bends, and keeps a grip with the uphill part of its body before letting go with the downhill part. It then stretches forward and pulls the rest of its body up. Concertina is reliable, but slow and energetically costly. On rough bark or among twigs and branches, snakes can also use lateral undulation, pushing against bumps and side branches with a wave that passes along the body. This needs something to push against; it doesn't work on smooth surfaces. In 2021, a team including Thomas Seibert, Julie Savidge and Jayne described a new mode in Current Biology called lasso locomotion. Brown tree snakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam wrapped a single loop around smooth poles too wide for concertina, then inched upward by small bends moving within the loop. The discovery came from efforts to keep the invasive snakes away from nests of endangered birds. The footage shows a snake gripping a pale, smooth trunk at night with tight coils and moving up in stages. The source doesn't identify the species.
DID YOUKNOW?Hair BarrierDD-648
Hair Barrier
The best-known experiment on this idea didn't use mosquitoes. In 2011, Isabelle Dean and Michael Siva-Jothy at the University of Sheffield published a study in Biology Letters using 29 volunteers, each with one arm shaved and one unshaved. They released bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) onto each arm. On unshaved arms, the bugs took longer to find a place to feed, and volunteers noticed them more often. People with more hair were better at detecting the bugs. The authors suggested that fine body hair may persist partly because it helps people sense parasites. Mosquitoes are different, because they fly in and land rather than crawl across the skin. They find people mainly through exhaled carbon dioxide, body heat and skin odor; a 2022 study in Cell linked 'mosquito magnet' status to higher levels of carboxylic acids on the skin. A 1976 laboratory study of Anopheles gambiae landings on volunteers' forearms found that forearm hair density, along with skin temperature, humidity and color, explained very little of the variation in which person mosquitoes chose. So the idea that hair helps you feel a crawling insect has experimental support, but only for bed bugs. That it makes mosquitoes land less or bite less hasn't been shown. The footage shows a mosquito walking through dense arm hair.
DID YOUKNOW?Rainbow MountainsDD-646
Rainbow Mountains
Peru's best-known 'rainbow mountain' is Vinicunca (Winikunka), also called Montaña de Siete Colores ('Mountain of Seven Colors'). It's in the Vilcanota range of the Cusco region, about 100 km southeast of the city of Cusco, between the districts of Pitumarca and Cusipata. Peru's official tourism inventory gives an altitude of 5,036 m, and the top viewpoint is listed at over 5,200 m. The stripes are tilted layers of marine, lake and river sediments laid down roughly 65 to 2 million years ago, then folded and lifted as the Andes rose. Erosion exposed them, and oxidation brought out their colors. The Cusco cultural landscape office, as reported by BBC Mundo, matches each color to its rock. Pink comes from red clay, mudstone and sand. White is quartz sandstone and limestone or marl. Red is iron-bearing claystone. Green is clay rich in iron and magnesium. Mustard yellow is calcareous sandstone rich in sulfur minerals. Brown is magnesium-rich fanglomerate, a rock made of cemented fan gravel. BBC Mundo also mentions copper oxide in the green layers, but neither source mentions copper sulfates. The mountain sits in lands of the Quechua farming communities of Pampachiri and Chillihuani and is regarded locally as a sacred apu (mountain spirit). The footage shows drone views of the striped slopes in mist.
DID YOUKNOW?Fissure FlamesDD-645
Fissure Flames
A fissure eruption happens when a dike, a vertical sheet of magma forced up through the crust, reaches the surface along a crack. Lava then erupts from many points along a line at once, often as a row of lava fountains that the USGS calls a 'curtain of fire'. Most fissure eruptions involve runny basalt and are effusive, meaning lava pours out rather than exploding. The National Park Service rates them at 0 to 1 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. So the main products are lava fountains, spatter and gas, not big ash columns. Spatter piling up along the crack builds low ramparts and spatter cones, so a fissure can leave a row of small craters rather than one tall cone. Fissures range from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers long. Iceland's Laki (Lakagígar) eruption began on June 8, 1783, from a fissure system about 27 km long with more than 130 craters. Feeder dikes for the Columbia River flood basalts reach as much as 180 km. Fissure eruptions are common where plates pull apart, as in Iceland, which sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They also happen along rift zones on the flanks of hot-spot shield volcanoes like Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, and in volcanic fields in the middle of continents. The footage shows a line of lava fountains beside a gas plume, with a fresh lava field on either side. The source doesn't name the eruption, so the case doesn't either.
DID YOUKNOW?Bdelloid RotifersDD-641
Bdelloid Rotifers
Bdelloid rotifers (class Bdelloidea) are microscopic animals, usually well under a millimeter long. They live in fresh water and also in damp moss, lichen and soil films that often dry out. In a 2000 paper in Science, they were called the largest animal group in which males, hermaphrodites and meiosis are unknown. Females produce daughters from unfertilized eggs (parthenogenesis). Genetic studies suggest the group may have done without conventional sex for many millions of years, though 'ancient asexuality' is still debated. Bdelloids carry an unusually high share of genes picked up from bacteria, fungi and plants by horizontal gene transfer. A 2015 study estimated about 13 new foreign genes per lineage per million years, with more in species from habitats that often dry out. A 2018 reanalysis, however, found that claims of DNA swaps between bdelloid individuals came from sample contamination. When their habitat dries, bdelloids contract into a 'tun' and enter anhydrobiosis, a dried, dormant state, and revive when water returns. The best-documented dry survival is about 9 years in stored moss. In 2021, researchers revived an Adineta rotifer from Siberian permafrost dated to about 24,000 years old, though it had been frozen rather than dried, and it went on to clone itself in the lab.
DID YOUKNOW?Doom PlumeDD-636
Doom Plume
Volcanologists call these eruption columns or ash plumes. In an explosive eruption, gas-charged magma shatters into ash, tiny fragments of rock and volcanic glass less than 2 mm across, which shoots out with steam and gases. The jet first rises on its own momentum. It then keeps climbing because it is hotter and lighter than the surrounding air. Heights vary a lot. Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull plume in April-May 2010 mostly reached about 5-10 km, yet its fine ash drifting over Europe led to more than 100,000 cancelled flights. Mount Pinatubo's column in the Philippines on June 15, 1991, rose more than 35 km. The January 15, 2022, eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai reached about 57 km, into the mesosphere, the highest volcanic plume recorded in the satellite era. Ash is dangerous to aircraft because it can damage engines, instruments and windscreens, and it can stop jet engines. Health agencies such as the USGS and IVHHN list short-term effects including coughing, sore throats, eye irritation and worsening asthma or bronchitis. People with heart or lung conditions are most at risk. The footage shows a towering orange-lit ash cloud, but the Reel doesn't say which volcano.
DID YOUKNOW?Cloud RiverDD-634
Cloud River
Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow corridors of concentrated water vapor in the lower atmosphere that carry moisture thousands of kilometers from the tropics toward higher latitudes. A strong one can move more water than the largest rivers on Earth, and when it meets mountains or cooler air the vapor condenses into heavy rain or snow. The footage, credited to daniel_asam, shows clouds flowing over a ridge.
DID YOUKNOW?Hail StormingDD-633
Hail Storming
Hail forms inside thunderstorm updrafts. According to NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), raindrops are carried up into very cold air and freeze. The young hailstones then grow by colliding with supercooled water drops, liquid colder than freezing, which freeze onto them. A stone grows on a seed of ice, snow or dust. Water that freezes instantly traps air bubbles and makes cloudy ice, while water that freezes slowly makes clear ice. The alternating layers reflect the changing conditions a stone passes through, not just simple up-and-down trips. Hail falls when the updraft can no longer hold up its weight, and stronger updrafts can hold bigger stones. Hail 2 inches (5 cm) or larger usually comes from supercells, storms with a rotating updraft. The largest U.S. hailstone fell in Vivian, South Dakota, on July 23, 2010: 8.0 inches across and about 1.94 lb (0.88 kg). Small hail falls at roughly 9-25 mph, while stones over 4 inches can top 100 mph. 'Hail alley', where Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming meet, averages seven to nine hail days a year. Insurers count hail as a major part of the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. severe-storm losses each year. The footage shows hail falling past a porch and windows.
DID YOUKNOW?Concrete ReefsDD-632
Concrete Reefs
Concrete is one of the most widely used artificial-reef materials, both as purpose-built reef modules and as recycled rubble such as old culverts, pipes and bridge pieces. In the U.S., the National Fishing Enhancement Act of 1984 led to a National Artificial Reef Plan, first adopted in 1985 and revised in 2007. It judges reef materials on function, compatibility with the environment, durability and stability. Concrete scores well on durability, but fisheries guidelines say it should be clean and well cured, because fresh concrete is strongly alkaline at first. Hollow cinder blocks, like those dumped from a barge in the footage, are generally considered a poor choice on their own. They are light and break easily, and storms can scatter or bury them. Once sunk, hard surfaces are colonized by algae, sponges, barnacles and, in warm waters, sometimes corals, and fish gather around them. A 2020 meta-analysis of 39 studies found that artificial reefs can support fish communities comparable to natural reefs, but results depend heavily on location and design. Scientists still debate how much artificial reefs produce new fish and how much they simply attract fish from elsewhere, which can make them easier to catch.
DID YOUKNOW?GuttationDD-064
Guttation
Guttation, the release of liquid droplets, is common across the fungal kingdom. How much a fungus produces depends heavily on conditions such as the growth medium and temperature, and its biological role is only partly understood. Lab studies have found the droplets carry secondary metabolites and proteins. Penicillium expansum exudates held 20 specialized metabolites, including the mycotoxins patulin and citrinin, and 194 proteins. Droplets from ochratoxin-producing Penicillium strains held up to 11 times more ochratoxin A than the mycelium beneath them. Toxigenic Stachybotrys chartarum (black mold) produced droplets with up to several thousand nanograms of satratoxins per milliliter. Enzymes such as β-glucosidase, catalase and peroxidase have been measured in the exudates of plant-pathogenic fungi.
DID YOUKNOW?Flying Fishermen IIIDD-629
Flying Fishermen III
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) lives almost entirely on fish, which make up about 99% of its diet. Its outer toe can swing backward, so it can grip with two toes in front and two behind, an arrangement most hawks can't make. Barbed pads on the soles of its feet help hold slippery fish. When it spots a fish, an osprey often drops in stages, hovering in between, then plunges feet-first. Fish are usually caught within about half a meter of the surface. In a 1942 study in Nova Scotia, the final strike was usually judged to come from about 30 to 40 ft up. The bird then rises and shakes the water off. Success rates vary with place, weather and experience. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says that across several studies ospreys caught fish on at least 1 dive in 4, and sometimes as many as 70%. A 2004 study at Magdalena Bay, Mexico, found 61% success, with an average of 2.4 dives per catch. Wind and choppy water lowered the odds. Once airborne, an osprey turns its fish to face forward, which cuts wind resistance.
DID YOUKNOW?insularis blueDD-628
insularis blue
The white-lipped island pit viper, Trimeresurus insularis, is a venomous, tree-dwelling pit viper from the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia and Timor-Leste. It is found on more than a dozen islands, from Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa to Flores, Komodo, Sumba, Timor and Wetar, and in eastern Java. It was first described in 1977 as a subspecies of the white-lipped pit viper, T. albolabris, and was raised to a full species in 2001. Most are green. A striking blue form occurs on Komodo and nearby Padar. Field reports describe yellow animals on Flores, and all forms share a red tail tip. The blue snakes are a color morph of the same species, not a separate subspecies. One field account says they lack yellow pigment, which leaves the scales blue. Like all pit vipers, it has a heat-sensing pit on each side of the head, between the eye and the nostril, that helps it find warm-blooded prey in the dark. The IUCN calls it a generalist that is probably the most often seen snake on the islands where it lives. It is also regularly involved in snakebites on Bali. Its color forms are popular in the pet trade and are bred in captivity.
DID YOUKNOW?Tigers & TreesDD-624
Tigers & Trees
Tigers (Panthera tigris) rear up against tree trunks and rake the bark with their front claws. Old accounts describe scratch marks more than 3 m (about 11 ft) up a trunk, and one soft-barked tree in an Indian zoo was scratched so often that it died. Scratching helps keep the claws in shape: observers watching a captive tigress found a shed outer layer of claw left in a scratch mark. The gouges are also thought to work as signals to other tigers. Tigers have scent glands between their toes, but tiger-pheromone researchers say little is known about what those secretions communicate. A tiger's best-documented scent mark is marking fluid sprayed onto trees and bushes. Studies of wild tigers in Nepal's Chitwan, along with captive work in India, suggest this spray carries information about territory and breeding. Tigers also leave scrapes on the ground and droppings as marks. Researchers think marking helps tigers keep track of one another and avoid unwanted encounters. The footage shows a tiger scratching a pine trunk in snow.
DID YOUKNOW?The GladesDD-619
The Glades
The Everglades is a region of flooded grasslands in southern Florida. It forms the southern half of the Kissimmee–Okeechobee–Everglades watershed, which begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River. That river drains into shallow Lake Okeechobee. In the wet season, water spilling south from the lake spreads into a sheet about 60 miles wide and over 100 miles long. It moves about half a mile a day across a limestone shelf toward Florida Bay, and can take months or years to get there. Marjory Stoneman Douglas called it a "river of grass" in her 1947 book. Wikipedia notes the phrase captures only part of the system. Its main feature is sawgrass marsh, broken up by deeper sloughs, tree islands, cypress domes, and mangroves and coastal prairie where it meets the sea. The National Park Service calls the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) a keystone species of the Everglades. In the winter dry season, alligators dig "alligator holes" that hold water when the surrounding marsh dries out, becoming refuges for fish, turtles and wading birds. About half of the original Everglades has been converted to farms and cities. Canals and levees were built from the late 1800s, including 1,400 miles under a 1948 federal flood-control project. Congress approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan in 2000. Everglades National Park was dedicated by President Truman on December 6, 1947. The footage shows open sawgrass water under a blue sky, then close-ups of marsh plants, an alligator and cypress trunks.
DID YOUKNOW?ForeverestDD-063
Foreverest
More than 300 people have died in the Everest region in a century of climbing, and more than 200 bodies are thought to remain on the mountain. Above about 8,000 m, the so-called death zone, the air holds roughly a third of the oxygen at sea level, and summit temperatures average about -36 °C in January. Bringing someone down from there takes a large team, bottled oxygen and a short weather window, so many of the dead have stayed where they fell. Since 2019, Nepal-funded clean-up campaigns have started to bring some of them home: in 2024 a team of soldiers and Sherpa climbers recovered four bodies and a skeleton.
DID YOUKNOW?Sickled CellsDD-613
Sickled Cells
Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders caused by a mutation in the beta-globin gene, which helps make hemoglobin. According to the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), normal red blood cells are disc-shaped and flexible, so they move easily through large and small vessels. The mutation swaps a single amino acid, valine for glutamic acid, producing hemoglobin S. When hemoglobin S gives up its oxygen in the tissues, it links into long, rigid strands inside the cell. A 2019 review in the Annual Review of Pathology by Prithu Sundd and colleagues describes how these polymers stiffen and distort the cell. The sickled cells are inflexible and can stick to vessel walls, slowing or blocking blood flow. That starves nearby tissue of oxygen and can cause sudden episodes of severe pain, called pain crises. NHLBI also notes that sickle cells break apart early, lasting only 10 to 20 days compared with 90 to 120 for normal red cells. The body may not keep up, which leads to anemia. Other complications NHLBI lists include acute chest syndrome, stroke, eye problems and infections. The disease is autosomal recessive: a person must inherit the mutation from both parents. The FDA says it affects about 100,000 people in the US. Chicago physician James B. Herrick first described it in the medical literature in 1910. On December 8, 2023, the FDA approved the first cell-based gene therapies for it, Casgevy and Lyfgenia, for patients 12 and older. The footage is a medical animation of red cells flowing through a vessel, then sickled cells clumping.
DID YOUKNOW?SupercellDD-612
Supercell
A supercell is a thunderstorm with a deep, persistent rotating updraft called a mesocyclone. The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Amarillo says supercells are the least common type of thunderstorm but are especially prone to severe weather, including damaging winds, very large hail and sometimes tornadoes. NOAA's JetStream adds that they cause nearly all significant US tornadoes and most hailstones larger than a golf ball, and that their updrafts can exceed 100 mph (160 km/h). The key ingredient is vertical wind shear, a change in wind speed and direction with height. NWS Amarillo calls moderate to strong shear between the surface and about 20,000 ft the most critical factor. Shear creates horizontal spin, and a strong updraft tilts it upright and stretches it into a rotating column. Shear also tilts the storm, keeping its updraft and downdraft apart so rain-cooled air doesn't choke it off. That's why a supercell can last for hours. Wikipedia gives a typical life of 2–4 hours, sometimes more than 7. Fewer than about 30% produce tornadoes. In a 2017 study, Johannes Dahl showed that simple tilting of the environment's horizontal spin doesn't fully explain the rotation near the ground. Supercells are often classified as classic, low-precipitation and high-precipitation. The footage shows a time-lapse of a towering storm cloud over farm fields.
DID YOUKNOW?Golden DropDD-611
Golden Drop
The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is the most widely distributed eagle, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It mainly eats hares, rabbits, marmots and ground squirrels, and occasionally takes larger prey such as ungulates. Its best-documented dropping behavior involves tortoises. A 2022 study in Scientific Reports by José María Gil-Sánchez and colleagues describes golden eagles in southeastern Spain preying on spur-thighed tortoises (Testudo graeca) by dropping them onto rocks to break their shells. The tortoises served as alternative prey where rabbits had become scarce, and the eagles selected adult females. A 2022 study in Diversity by Lavrentis Sidiropoulos and colleagues found that tortoises made up an average of 71% of prey categories in golden eagles' breeding-season diet in northern Greece. Outside the breeding season, while tortoises hibernate, the eagles switched to carrion, mammals and birds. Golden eagles also drop sticks and rocks in courtship, catching them again in mid-air. The Reel's footage shows an eagle carrying a young ungulate, which then tumbles down rocky slopes. Dropping or knocking ungulates off cliffs is known mainly from filmed and anecdotal reports rather than systematic studies.
DID YOUKNOW?FloatovoltaicsDD-608
Floatovoltaics
Floating solar, also called floating photovoltaics (FPV) or floatovoltaics, puts solar panels on pontoons or purpose-built floats on reservoirs, lakes, ponds and other calm water. According to the World Bank's 2019 market report, the first FPV system was built in 2007 in Aichi, Japan. The first commercial installation was a 175 kWp array on a winery's irrigation pond in Napa Valley, California, in 2008. The report says the platform is held in place by anchoring and mooring to the bank, to the bottom, to piles, or a combination. Besides saving land, the report lists possible benefits: reduced evaporation from reservoirs, better energy yield because water cools the panels and there's less dust, and the option of using existing power lines at hydropower dams. It also notes that the size of these performance gains has yet to be confirmed by larger installations across multiple regions and over time. Wikipedia reports installed capacity grew from about 3 GW in 2020 to 13 GW in 2022. It cites a World Bank estimate of 6,600 large bodies of water suitable for floating solar, with more than 4,000 GW of technical capacity if 10% of their surface were covered. Some footage shows panels on fixed posts over shallow water, a closely related approach that is included as illustration.
DID YOUKNOW?Mount KailashDD-607
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is a 6,638 m (21,778 ft) peak in the Gangdise (Kailash) Range of the Transhimalaya, in Ngari Prefecture in western Tibet, China. It is sacred in four religions. Hindus regard it as the home of Shiva. Buddhist texts describe it as the mythological Mount Meru. According to Jain scriptures, Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara, attained liberation there. It is also sacred in Bon, Tibet's pre-Buddhist tradition. There is no recorded ascent. The Chinese government prohibits climbing it because of its religious significance. A Spanish expedition was refused permission in 2001, and the mountaineer Reinhold Messner turned down an offer from the Chinese government in the mid-1980s. Instead, pilgrims walk a circuit (kora or parikrama) around the mountain, about 52–53 km long and with its highest point at the Drölma pass, about 5,650 m. Hindus and Buddhists walk it clockwise and Bon followers counterclockwise. Sources disagree about Jains: Wikipedia says they walk clockwise, while Britannica says they go counterclockwise. The sources of four rivers lie nearby: the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra and Ghaghara (Karnali). Britannica notes that pilgrimage access reopened in 1981, that Indian pilgrimages paused for about five years from 2020 and that they resumed in June 2025. The footage shows aerial views of the snow-capped peak.
DID YOUKNOW?Sheep DippingDD-602
Sheep Dipping
Sheep scab is an intensely itchy skin disease caused by the mite Psoroptes ovis. The UK's National Animal Disease Information Service (NADIS) says the mites' droppings trigger an allergic reaction that leads to rubbing, wool loss, scabs and rapid weight loss. In severe cases it can kill. NADIS says compulsory treatment was enforced in Britain from 1928. Eradication failed and control was deregulated in 1992, but England and Wales still legally require infected flocks to be treated, and Scotland made the disease notifiable again in 2010. According to the UK sheep-parasite group SCOPS, there are now only two treatments for scab in the UK: plunge dips containing the organophosphate diazinon, and injectable macrocyclic lactones. Organophosphate dips work only as a proper plunge dip, never through jetters or showers. NADIS says dips kill scab mites within 24 hours, keep working for several weeks, and also control blowfly, lice, keds and ticks. Synthetic pyrethroid (cypermethrin) dips were once the other option. NFU Scotland reported in 2010 that the Veterinary Medicines Directorate suspended them in 2006 over water pollution and manufacturers then stopped making them. Organophosphates are highly toxic to people too. The UK Health and Safety Executive requires anyone buying OP dip to hold a certificate of competence and sets rules for protective clothing, storage and disposal. NFU Scotland notes that concerns have been raised about effects on human health. The footage shows sheep being pushed through a dip, with a metal tipping cradle and frame over the swim bath. The country isn't identified.
DID YOUKNOW?Kawah IjenDD-600
Kawah Ijen
Kawah Ijen is the crater of the Ijen volcano in East Java, Indonesia. It holds a turquoise lake rich in sulfuric and hydrochloric acid. Its famous 'blue fire' (locally api biru) isn't lava. Photographer Olivier Grunewald, who documented it for years, told National Geographic and Smithsonian that the glow comes from burning sulfur-rich gases. These leave cracks at high pressure and temperatures up to 600 °C and ignite in air above about 360 °C, with flames up to about 5 m high. Some of the gas condenses into liquid sulfur that keeps burning as it runs downhill, which looks like flowing blue lava. The flames are faint, so they show only at night. USGS geologist John Pallister told National Geographic that miners sometimes light the sulfur themselves, which adds to the flames in night photos. Ijen is also a working sulfur mine. Ceramic pipes channel gas from a vent by the lake, and it condenses into molten sulfur that hardens yellow. Miners break off chunks and carry them out in baskets. Wikipedia, citing several reports, puts typical loads at 75 to 90 kg, carried up about 300 m to the crater rim and then about 3 km down, often twice a day. A 2024 study measured sulfur dioxide along the miners' path at 3.14 to 18.24 mg/m³, above the US EPA's 1.97 mg/m³ guideline. Miners reported eye irritation, coughing, headaches and shortness of breath. The footage shows bright blue flames and burning streams against the dark night slopes.
DID YOUKNOW?Albatross ChicksDD-599
Albatross Chicks
The grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) is a mollymawk that breeds on islands in the Southern Ocean, with about half the world population on South Georgia. The IUCN lists it as Endangered. According to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), it usually breeds every other year. Eggs are laid in October, incubation averages 72 to 74 days, chicks hatch mostly in December, and they fledge in late April or May at about 116 to 145 days old. The single egg goes in a large mud-and-grass nest, typically on steep slopes or cliffs with tussock grass. At Bird Island, South Georgia, a British Antarctic Survey team used electronic weighing platforms under the nests to log chick mass every 10 minutes, nearly a million weighings in all. They found grey-headed parents delivered meals averaging 616 g, and with both parents foraging the chick got a meal about every 1.26 days. The diet is mostly squid, with some fish and crustaceans. Like other albatross chicks, they reach a peak mass well above adult weight, about 30% or more according to a 2000 study in Ibis, then slim down before fledging. Wikipedia, citing Bird Island studies, gives a peak of about 4.9 kg; adults average about 3.65 kg. The footage shows a grey downy chick on a pedestal nest above the sea, then a whiter, fluffier chick in tall tussock grass, illustrating albatross chicks at different stages or sites.
DID YOUKNOW?Blood Destruction IIDD-598
Blood Destruction II
Many snake venoms, especially those of vipers (the family that includes rattlesnakes), are haemotoxic: they act on blood and blood vessels. A 2017 review in the British Journal of Haematology by Slagboom and colleagues describes three main routes. First, snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) digest the basement membrane that supports capillary walls, especially type IV collagen. A 2016 review by Gutiérrez and colleagues explains that the weakened capillaries are then torn apart by the normal pressure of blood flow, so blood leaks into the tissue. Second, procoagulant toxins activate clotting factors such as Factor X and prothrombin, or act directly on fibrinogen. Inside the body this burns through the clotting factors, a condition called venom-induced consumption coagulopathy (VICC), and the blood ends up unable to clot. That's why a bite can cause both clotting and bleeding. Third, toxins such as disintegrins and C-type lectins can block platelets from clumping, or activate them until they're used up. Slagboom and colleagues cite about 1.8 million snake envenomings and up to 125,000 deaths a year. The same toxins are studied as drugs and diagnostic tools. The footage shows venom being collected from a snake held over a covered jar, then drawn into a syringe and added to blood in a glass, where the blood quickly thickens into a clot, a lab-glass illustration of the procoagulant effect. The snake isn't identified.
DID YOUKNOW?Chordodes FormosanusDD-596
Chordodes Formosanus
Chordodes formosanus is a horsehair worm (phylum Nematomorpha) first described in 2011 by Ming-Chung Chiu and colleagues from specimens taken from Hierodula mantises in Taiwan and Japan. Later surveys found it in other mantises and in long-horned grasshoppers too. Horsehair worms live as adults in water. Females lay strings of eggs there, and the larvae infect aquatic insect larvae and form cysts inside them. When those insects grow up and fly to land, a mantis or cricket that eats one picks up the cyst. The worm then grows inside the host's body cavity until it fills much of the abdomen. When it's mature, the infected host heads for water, and the worm emerges and swims off to mate. Researchers have long linked this water-seeking behavior to the parasite, but exactly how it works is still being studied. A 2023 Current Biology study of the related species Chordodes fukuii found more than 1,400 worm genes that closely match mantis genes, evidence of horizontal gene transfer. Many of those genes became more active during manipulation, which suggests they may help the worm influence its host. Adult horsehair worms of different species range from a few centimeters to over 2 m long, though most are 20 to 40 cm. The specimens measured in the 2011 description of C. formosanus were about 7 to 28 cm. The footage shows a green mantis held over and then in a glass of water as a long dark worm emerges from its abdomen.
DID YOUKNOW?Sandy ScaridaeDD-591
Sandy Scaridae
Parrotfish are the family Scaridae, about 90 species of reef fish named for their fused, beak-like teeth. They bite and scrape the surfaces of dead coral and rock, mainly for the algae and other microscopic organisms growing on and in them, and swallow chunks of the calcium-carbonate reef along the way. A second set of tooth plates in the throat, the pharyngeal mill, grinds that material down, the digestible part is absorbed, and the rest comes out as fine white sand. NOAA says parrotfish can produce hundreds of pounds of sand a year, and a large bumphead parrotfish may produce several hundred pounds. The University of Hawaii's Exploring Our Fluid Earth estimates that up to 70% of the sand on white beaches in the Caribbean and Hawaii was excreted by parrotfish. A 2021 study on a Maldivian reef put individual production anywhere from under 3 to over 5,000 kilograms a year, depending on species and size. Grazing also keeps algae from overgrowing reefs, which is why parrotfish are seen as important to reef health. The footage shows a blue-and-purple parrotfish grazing over rocky reef.
DID YOUKNOW?Crystal JelliesDD-056
Crystal Jellies
Aequorea victoria, the crystal jelly, is a hydrozoan (a hydromedusa), not a true jellyfish. It lives from the Bering Sea to Baja California. In light-producing organs around its bell margin, the protein aequorin gives off blue light when it binds calcium, and GFP converts that light to green. Osamu Shimomura isolated both proteins in 1962. GFP later became a key tool in biology and was the subject of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
DID YOUKNOW?Avian SiblicideDD-587
Avian Siblicide
Siblicide is the killing of a young animal by its siblings, and it is best known in birds. Biologists split it into two kinds. In obligate siblicide, one chick almost always kills the other, whatever the food supply. Masked boobies (Sula dactylatra) and Nazca boobies (Sula granti) are classic examples: the first-hatched A-chick starts pecking its sibling as soon as it hatches and usually kills it or pushes it out of the nest scrape within two days. In facultative siblicide, siblings fight but killing depends on conditions. Blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) chicks, for instance, usually kill a sibling only when food is short. More bird species are facultatively siblicidal than obligately so. Hatching asynchrony sets up the contest: the eggs are laid days apart, so the older chick gets a head start in size and strength. Cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) add higher hormone levels in the first eggs. A leading explanation for why parents lay a second egg at all is the insurance egg hypothesis, proposed by Dorward in 1962: the extra egg is a backup in case the first fails. Parents' behavior matters too: in a cross-fostering study, masked booby chicks raised by blue-footed booby parents committed siblicide less often. The footage shows a naked hatchling heaving a nestmate up and over the rim of a small nest.
DID YOUKNOW?Trocar CowsDD-585
Trocar Cows
Bloat, or ruminal tympany, is overdistension of the rumen and reticulum with the gases of fermentation. The Merck Veterinary Manual describes two forms. In frothy (primary) bloat, gas is trapped in a stable foam mixed with the rumen contents, often on legume pasture, and the usual treatment is an antifoaming agent given by tube. In free-gas (secondary) bloat, gas collects above the contents because something, such as an esophageal obstruction, stops the cow from belching it up. Free-gas bloat is quickly relieved by passing a stomach tube or by inserting a trocar and cannula through the left flank into the rumen. A standard trocar is often too narrow to let stable foam escape, and a life-threatening case may need an emergency rumenotomy. The gas itself is mostly carbon dioxide: a 1974 review gives 45 to 70% CO2 and 20 to 30% methane, and a 1997 study of grazing dairy cows measured about 65 to 76% CO2 and 22 to 31% methane. The methane is why the escaping gas can be lit. The footage shows a cannula in a cow's flank with the gas burning as a blue flame. Lighting it is a demonstration, not part of the treatment.
DID YOUKNOW?Danakil DepressionDD-055
Danakil Depression
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia's Afar region lies mostly about 100 m below sea level, reaching around 124 m. It has a mean annual temperature of about 35 °C. The colorful terrain in the Reel's footage is the Dallol hydrothermal field. There, hot, hyperacidic, iron-rich brines rise through a thick salt deposit, and the iron oxidizes into yellow, green and orange crusts.
DID YOUKNOW?Silk HarvestDD-583
Silk Harvest
Forced silking, or reeling, is a standard way for researchers to collect spider silk. In the Oxford Silk Group's demonstration, a golden orb-weaver, Nephila edulis, is sedated with carbon dioxide and pinned gently in place. A thread is pulled from the spinnerets with tweezers, fixed to a spool, and a motor reels it in. The group says 30 to 80 meters can be collected in one go, after which the spider goes back to its web. The silk drawn this way is mainly major ampullate (dragline) silk, plus some minor ampullate silk. Each silk type comes from its own gland, and a female of this species can make up to six types. Forced silking isn't identical to natural spinning: a 2004 study in Biomacromolecules found that restrained spiders brake the line hard, putting the fiber under far more stress than a spider descending on its dragline, which can change the silk's properties. Scale is the hard part. For the golden spider-silk cape shown at London's V&A from January 25 to June 5, 2012, Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley's team in Madagascar harnessed wild-caught golden orb-weavers 24 at a time and released them at the end of each day. The cape used the silk of 1.2 million spiders, and the V&A says about 23,000 spiders yield around an ounce of silk. The footage is the Oxford Silk Group's reeling demonstration.
DID YOUKNOW?Bathypterois grallatorDD-580
Bathypterois grallator
Bathypterois grallator, the tripod fish or tripod spiderfish, is a deep-sea fish in the family Ipnopidae. George Brown Goode and Tarleton Bean described it in 1886. It lives on continental slopes and abyssal plains in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, roughly between 40°N and 40°S, at depths of 878 to 4,720 m and water temperatures of 2.7 to 13.5 °C. It's the largest member of its genus, commonly over 30 cm long and up to about 43 cm. The lower lobe of its tail fin and both pelvic fins end in greatly elongated rays, up to about a meter long, or roughly three times its body length. When it settles, it lands on its pelvic fins first and then lowers its tail ray, standing on the three like a tripod. The rays are flexible when it swims but stiff when it stands, and researchers have suggested that the fish pumps fluid into them to stiffen them. Standing facing into the current, it waits for food to drift past and uses the tips of its pectoral fins to feel for prey, since its eyesight is very poor. Small tripod fish eat mostly copepods, amphipods and other small crustaceans. Larger ones, above about 24 cm, eat mostly small fish and decapods by weight. Each fish is a simultaneous hermaphrodite and may be able to fertilize its own eggs, which helps where mates are scarce. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern. The footage, credited to the Schmidt Ocean Institute, shows a pale tripod fish drifting and standing on long fin rays over a dark, sandy seafloor.
DID YOUKNOW?Ayam CemaniDD-576
Ayam Cemani
The Ayam Cemani is a rare chicken breed from the island of Java in Indonesia. In Indonesian, 'ayam' means chicken, and the Javanese word 'cemani' means thoroughly black. The breed has probably been kept since the 12th century for religious and mystical purposes. It was described by Dutch colonial settlers, and Dutch breeder Jan Steverink first imported it to Europe in 1998. The breed standard calls for black feathers, beak, tongue, comb and wattles, and even the meat, internal organs and bones are black or gray. Roosters weigh about 2 to 2.5 kg and hens 1.5 to 2 kg. The color comes from fibromelanosis, a dominant trait in which pigment cells spread into the skin, connective tissue and organs. In 2011, a team led by Leif Andersson traced it to a complex rearrangement on chromosome 20 that duplicates the endothelin 3 gene (EDN3). Extra EDN3 activity drives the growth of melanocytes, the pigment cells. Silkie chickens, Korea's Ogye and India's Kadaknath share the same mutation, and a 2017 genome study comparing Cemani and Silkie concluded that it arose once and spread among breeds. The pigment doesn't reach the blood, which is red as in any chicken, despite a popular myth. The footage shows a row of glossy black birds on a perch and black hens with chicks in straw.
DID YOUKNOW?Blue HourDD-574
Blue Hour
The blue hour is the period of twilight just before sunrise or just after sunset, when the Sun is a few degrees below the horizon. Only indirect sunlight reaches the ground, and ozone absorption and scattering leave mostly blue wavelengths of the visible spectrum, so the sky and landscape take on a deep blue tint. How long it lasts depends on season and geographic location. The footage, credited to eastern_european_aesthetic, shows a snowy street at dusk.
DID YOUKNOW?Food RecyclingDD-569
Food Recycling
The footage shows a Chinese plant processing expired packaged food. Workers shovel bags of snacks onto conveyors, a machine strips the wrappers, and the food comes out as an orange meal. Chinese manufacturers sell these de-bagging lines for expired packaged food. One maker says its line opens bags, separates food from plastic by air and screening, and sends the food on to feed processing. Chinese media report that feed factories buy expired or near-expiry stock such as biscuits and mooncakes by the ton. In a September 2026 report, a Hebei feed-plant worker said moldy or spoiled products are rejected. The food is crushed and dried, tested against feed standards and blended with corn and soybean meal. Restaurant and household kitchen waste is a separate stream with stricter rules. After African swine fever spread through China in 2018, the government banned feeding food waste to pigs. Reuters reported that the ban pushed waste processors toward options such as insect farms. Kitchen waste is mostly treated by anaerobic digestion for biogas, composting, or conversion into fuel and fertilizer, according to a review by the French research agency CIRAD. On April 29, 2021, China passed its Anti-Food Waste Law, which took effect the same day. In 2025, according to the Wilson Center's New Security Beat, China launched 20 city pilot programs to collect and treat food waste for animal feed, partly to cut its reliance on imported soybeans.
DID YOUKNOW?Wasp the BuilderDD-563
Wasp the Builder
Paper wasps and their relatives build nests from wood fibers chewed and mixed with saliva into a papery pulp. In spring a queen starts the nest on a sheltered surface, builds the first hexagonal cells, lays eggs and raises the first workers, which then take over expanding the nest with more cells and, in many species, a protective outer envelope. The footage, credited to in_sideout._, shows a wasp building a nest.
DID YOUKNOW?Granular FlowDD-561
Granular Flow
In a granular flow, loose and fragmented rock and debris behave like a fluid and move rapidly downslope under gravity. Such flows often start when an unstable slope or slow-moving slide breaks apart, with triggers such as heavy rain, earthquakes or erosion. They can reach high speeds and travel long distances, endangering infrastructure and lives. The footage, credited to Centinela35, shows a rockslide flowing down a hillside.
DID YOUKNOW?Hurricane HeleneDD-560
Hurricane Helene
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend on September 26, 2024, and moved inland, bringing extreme rainfall to the southern Appalachians. Western North Carolina, including Asheville, Swannanoa and Chimney Rock, saw catastrophic flooding and landslides; some locations recorded over 30 inches of rain, and the storm ranks among the deadliest in the state's history. The footage, credited to Matt Van Swol, shows flood damage in the North Carolina mountains.
DID YOUKNOW?Bacterial FlagellumDD-559
Bacterial Flagellum
The bacterial flagellum is a whip-like filament driven by a rotary motor at its base, embedded in the cell envelope. The flow of ions, typically protons or sodium ions, across the membrane turns the motor, spinning the filament like a propeller. Counterclockwise rotation bundles the flagella so the cell runs forward; switching to clockwise makes it tumble and reorient. The footage, credited to Smart Biology, shows an animation of the flagellar motor.
DID YOUKNOW?Dog WaterDD-551
Dog Water
Dogs can't seal their cheeks to suck, so they curl the tongue tip backward into a ladle, plunge it into the water and pull it out fast, drawing up a column of water by inertia. They close their jaws on the column before it falls, lapping several times per second. High-speed video studies, such as a 2015 PNAS paper, showed this. The footage, credited to eurekahnb, shows a dog drinking in slow motion.
DID YOUKNOW?Lava LandDD-550
Lava Land
Submarine volcanoes erupt lava, ash and gas that cool quickly in seawater and pile up into seamounts. With repeated eruptions they can break the surface and form islands or chains, as with Hawaii, and Iceland's Surtsey, which emerged in 1963. The footage, credited to crunchtimearchive, shows lava meeting the sea.
DID YOUKNOW?Emerald BoasDD-547
Emerald Boas
The northern emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus) is a nonvenomous South American rainforest snake, bright green with white zigzag markings. It is ovoviviparous: eggs develop inside the mother in membranes and the young are born live after about 6-8 months, typically 5-20 per litter, the Reel says. Newborns are often red or orange and turn green later. The footage, credited to thereptilereportofficial, shows an emerald tree boa.
DID YOUKNOW?Flying Fishermen IIDD-534
Flying Fishermen II
Kingfishers are a worldwide family of brightly colored birds with sharp bills and keen eyesight. Many hunt by perching quietly over water, then diving headfirst to catch small fish or aquatic insects. A transparent third eyelid protects the eye underwater, and they can compensate for refraction to strike accurately, the Reel says. The footage, credited to harrycollinsphotography, shows a kingfisher diving.
DID YOUKNOW?Canadian MooseDD-533
Canadian Moose
Moose (Alces alces) live across Canada's boreal and mixed forests, wetlands and tundra edges. Large bulls can stand about 2.1 meters (7 feet) at the shoulder and weigh over 600 kg (1,300 pounds), and grow broad antlers spanning up to about 1.8 meters, used in rut displays and fights. Moose are strong swimmers and can dive several meters to feed on aquatic plants. The footage, credited to kuamzz, shows a bull moose in a forest.
DID YOUKNOW?The Price of EggsDD-505
The Price of Eggs
Chick culling is the killing of male chicks in the egg industry. Males of laying breeds cannot lay eggs and are not efficient meat birds compared with broilers, so they are considered uneconomical. Common methods include gassing and maceration; regulations vary by country, and some countries have banned the practice or are adopting in-ovo sexing to identify males before hatching. The footage, credited to fuck.animal.cruelty, shows chicks on a hatchery line.
DID YOUKNOW?The PlungeDD-497
The Plunge
When young penguins first go to sea, they gather at the water's edge and hesitate, partly because predators such as leopard seals and orcas may be waiting. Once one jumps, others quickly follow, and safety in numbers lowers each bird's risk, the Reel says, citing emperor penguins as an example. The footage, credited to natgeomagarab, shows a crowd of penguins at the edge of the ice.
DID YOUKNOW?Air CondorDD-493
Air Condor
Andean and California condors have wingspans of up to about 3 meters (10 feet). They ride thermals, columns of warm air rising from sun-heated ground and slopes, and ridge lift along mountains, gliding long distances with little energy while searching for carrion. The footage, credited to webnectarphoto, shows a condor soaring over mountains.
DID YOUKNOW?Frozen GatorsDD-491
Frozen Gators
When temperatures drop, American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) enter brumation, a reptile dormancy in which metabolism slows sharply. In freezing water they may keep their nostrils above the surface as ice forms, letting them breathe while the rest of the body stays submerged and almost motionless. The footage, credited to AmazingNature, shows an alligator lying in icy water.
DID YOUKNOW?The GulfDD-486
The Gulf
The Gulf of Mexico is an ocean basin bordered by the United States, Mexico and Cuba, covering about 615,000 square miles (1.6 million km2). It holds major oil and gas reserves and supports fisheries and diverse ecosystems. The Reel was posted in February 2025, shortly after a U.S. executive order directed federal use of the name Gulf of America; the name Gulf of Mexico remains in international use. The footage, credited to 30A, shows beaches and turquoise water.
DID YOUKNOW?Kestrel StabilityDD-477
Kestrel Stability
Kestrels are small falcons famous for hovering while hunting. According to the Reel, falcons get their flight stability from long, pointed wings that reduce drag for fast dives and precise maneuvers, a tail that acts like a rudder, stiff primary feathers for stability at speed and softer secondary feathers for lift. The footage, credited to lawrencechatton, shows a kestrel in flight.
DID YOUKNOW?Flamboyant FishDD-472
Flamboyant Fish
The flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) is a small Indo-Pacific cephalopod, not a fish. Its hatchlings emerge from translucent eggs as tiny, fully formed miniatures of the adults and can show vibrant coloration soon after. Adults flash purple, yellow and red warning colors as they walk along the seafloor. The footage, credited to science, shows hatchlings leaving their eggs.
DID YOUKNOW?Layer by LayerDD-470
Layer by Layer
On frozen lakes, ice thickens in layers as cold spells come and go; temperature swings, wind and pressure crack and stack the sheets into ridges and shards. The Reel's captions describe ice sheets formed from layers of ice in cold temperatures, varying with the intensity of temperature fluctuations. The footage, credited to all.litvinova, shows layered, broken ice on a frozen lake.
DID YOUKNOW?Immune to ColdDD-467
Immune to Cold
Siberian Huskies tolerate cold through a double coat of water-repelling guard hairs and an insulating undercoat, furred paws with tough pads, and a countercurrent heat exchange that warms blood returning from the limbs, according to the Reel. The footage shows huskies in deep snow.
DID YOUKNOW?A Puzzle for AntsDD-460
A Puzzle for Ants
Ant colonies solve problems such as finding food, building nests and moving large objects without a leader. Each ant follows simple rules and responds to pheromone trails, touch and local cues, and the colony's behavior emerges from these interactions, an example of swarm intelligence. Researchers have shown ant groups maneuvering loads through mazes more effectively than individuals. The footage shows ants working together to move an object through a puzzle.
DID YOUKNOW?Just a Chill DogDD-458
Just a Chill Dog
Siberian Huskies cope with cold thanks to a thick double coat: water- and snow-repelling guard hairs over a dense, insulating undercoat. Furred paws with tough pads resist freezing and grip ice, and a countercurrent heat exchange in the limbs warms blood returning from the extremities, according to the Reel. The footage, credited to hackingtheuniverse, shows a husky resting in snow.
DID YOUKNOW?SiphonophoriaDD-456
Siphonophoria
Siphonophores (order Siphonophorae) are colonial hydrozoans made of specialized zooids that handle tasks like feeding, movement and reproduction while working together as one organism. The Portuguese man o' war is a well-known example, and some species reach great lengths. They capture prey with stinging cells called nematocysts. The footage, credited to seaclips.io, shows a siphonophore on the seafloor.
DID YOUKNOW?Freeloader FishDD-453
Freeloader Fish
Juvenile trevally and some filefish shelter in or beneath jellyfish bells, using the stinging tentacles as a shield against predators and picking off food the jellyfish has caught or nibbling its tissue, the Reel says. It describes the relationship as commensalism, in which the fish benefit and the jellyfish is largely unaffected. The footage, credited to elevatedmoments.co, shows small fish swimming inside a jellyfish.
DID YOUKNOW?KomodoDD-452
Komodo
Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis), the largest living lizards, have loosely jointed, flexible jaws, expandable throats and stretchy stomachs, so they can swallow large chunks or small prey whole, using head-tossing motions to force food down. Serrated teeth tear off pieces when prey is too large. They can eat up to about 80 percent of their body weight in a meal. The footage shows Komodo dragons feeding.
DID YOUKNOW?Blood BeachDD-443
Blood Beach
Hormuz Island in Iran's part of the Persian Gulf is known for red soil and sand rich in iron oxide, mainly hematite, which washes onto its beaches and colors the surf red. Locals use the red earth, called gelak, in cooking and crafts. The footage shows the island's red soil and sand.
DID YOUKNOW?OverGrowth UnderPassDD-441
OverGrowth UnderPass
Cities cover concrete walls, pillars and underpasses with climbing plants, vertical gardens and green walls. Plants such as ivy and creeping fig tolerate shade and urban conditions, and the greenery can cool surfaces, trap dust and make infrastructure more pleasant. Some cities, such as Mexico City and Chengdu, have planted overpass pillars on a large scale. The footage shows overpasses covered in plants.
DID YOUKNOW?PandaPandaPandaDD-439
PandaPandaPanda
Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) eat almost nothing but bamboo, which is low in nutrients, so they eat a lot of it: roughly 12 to 38 kilograms (26 to 84 pounds) a day, depending on which parts they eat. They feed on leaves, stems and shoots, and spend about 10 to 16 hours a day eating; they occasionally eat other plants or small animals. The footage shows a panda eating bamboo.
DID YOUKNOW?Cerastes CerastesDD-435
Cerastes Cerastes
The Saharan horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) is a venomous snake of the deserts of North Africa and parts of the Middle East. Many individuals have a horn-like scale above each eye, though some lack them. Its sandy coloring camouflages it, it often buries itself in sand to ambush prey, and it moves by sidewinding, leaving distinctive tracks. The footage shows a horned viper in sand.
DID YOUKNOW?Garbage Water IIDD-434
Garbage Water II
Autonomous river-cleaning robots are small boats that navigate waterways on their own, using sensors, cameras and software to spot floating plastic and debris, scoop it into onboard bins and steer around obstacles and wildlife. Several cities and companies have tested them on rivers, canals and harbors. The footage shows a robotic boat collecting floating trash.
DID YOUKNOW?Leech Gourmet IIDD-433
Leech Gourmet II
Not all leeches are small blood-sippers. Some large leeches prey on amphibians such as frogs in rainforests and freshwater, latching on with their muscular, suckered bodies and feeding on blood or soft tissue; some species use a proboscis to pierce prey, while others have jaws. The footage shows a large leech attacking a frog.
DID YOUKNOW?Naturally SelectedDD-432
Naturally Selected
Storks often lay several eggs that hatch days apart, so chicks differ in size. When food is scarce, parents may kill or eject the weakest chick, focusing care on those most likely to survive; biologists call this brood reduction. White storks (Ciconia ciconia) have been filmed throwing chicks from nests. The footage shows a stork pushing a chick out of a nest.
DID YOUKNOW?Bone EaterDD-427
Bone Eater
The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) lives in mountains of Europe, Africa and Asia and feeds mainly on bones, which can make up 70 to 90 percent of its diet. Its very acidic stomach digests large bone pieces, and it drops bones too big to swallow from height onto rocks to break them. The footage shows a bearded vulture carrying and dropping a bone.
DID YOUKNOW?From the DepthsDD-426
From the Depths
The viper dogfish (Trigonognathus kabeyai) is a small, rarely seen deep-sea shark of the Pacific, recorded off Japan and Hawaii. It has long, fang-like teeth and jaws that can shoot far forward to grab fish and crustaceans. It migrates toward shallower water at night to feed. The footage shows a viper dogfish thrusting its jaws.
DID YOUKNOW?Jellyfish DeliciousDD-422
Jellyfish Delicious
Sea turtles, especially leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), eat jellyfish. Leatherbacks have sharp, scissor-like jaws, and their mouths and throats are lined with backward-pointing spines called papillae that grip slippery prey and let them expel water without losing the meal. The footage shows a sea turtle eating a jellyfish.
DID YOUKNOW?Rabies CraziesDD-420
Rabies Crazies
Rabies is a viral infection usually spread by bites or scratches from infected animals. The virus travels along peripheral nerves to the brain, where it causes encephalitis. Animals may show furious rabies, with aggression, drooling and lack of fear, or paralytic rabies, with weakness and paralysis. Once symptoms appear it is nearly always fatal, though vaccination soon after exposure prevents it. The footage shows animals with behavior changes.
DID YOUKNOW?Raccoon WashDD-415
Raccoon Wash
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) often dabble or dunk food in water. Researchers think this is not cleaning: their front paws are packed with sensitive nerve endings, and wetting them may heighten touch, helping them identify food. Raccoons also do the motion without water. The footage shows a raccoon rubbing food in water.
DID YOUKNOW?Heavy Flavor, Heavy FlowDD-414
Heavy Flavor, Heavy Flow
Pyroclastic flows are fast-moving currents of hot gas, ash and rock fragments that rush down a volcano's slopes during explosive eruptions. They typically move at about 100 kilometers per hour and can exceed 700 kilometers per hour, with temperatures that can top 1,000 degrees Celsius, making them among the deadliest volcanic hazards; one destroyed Saint-Pierre on Martinique in 1902. The footage shows glowing lava flows rather than a pyroclastic flow.
DID YOUKNOW?BafflingDD-410
Baffling
Baffle blocks are concrete blocks set in spillways, canals, chutes and stilling basins to break up fast flows. They create turbulence that dissipates the water's energy and slows it, reducing erosion and damage downstream. Their size and spacing are designed for the expected flow. The footage shows water churning over rows of baffle blocks.
DID YOUKNOW?Spreading SeedsDD-403
Spreading Seeds
In January 2022, Brazilian skydiver Luigi Cani jumped over a deforested area near Novo Aripuanã in Brazil's Amazonas state and released about 100 million seeds of 27 native tree species from a biodegradable box. The box was dropped from a plane, and Cani reached it in free fall and opened it at about 6,500 feet so the seeds would spread evenly. The project aimed to help regrow the forest. The footage shows the jump and the seed release.
DID YOUKNOW?I'd Pick YouDD-399
I'd Pick You
To study what lava is made of, volcanologists collect samples from active flows with long-handled metal picks, hammers or scoops, often quenching the sample in water to preserve it. Basaltic lava commonly reaches about 1,100 to 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,000 to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit), so they wear heat-resistant gear and work fast. The footage shows a scientist pulling molten lava from a flow with a pick.
DID YOUKNOW?ICECOREDD-398
ICECORE
Ice cores are long cylinders drilled from glaciers and ice sheets, some from depths of more than 3,000 meters. Snow builds up in yearly layers, and air bubbles trapped in the ice preserve samples of the past atmosphere, including greenhouse gases. Antarctic cores extend back about 800,000 years and record past climate and volcanic eruptions. The footage shows a view down a borehole in the ice.
DID YOUKNOW?Spores Galore!DD-397
Spores Galore!
Mushrooms are the reproductive bodies of fungi. They release microscopic spores from gills, pores or spines under the cap; many species actively launch spores a tiny distance, after which air currents carry them, sometimes very far. A single mushroom can release millions to billions of spores, raising the odds that a few land somewhere suitable. The footage shows time-lapse and close-up views of spores drifting from mushrooms.
DID YOUKNOW?Fire & IceDD-391
Fire & Ice
When lava, at temperatures that can exceed 1,100 to 1,200 degrees Celsius, flows onto snow, the snow melts and flashes to steam. The lava's crust and the steam layer slow heat transfer, so the flow can advance over snow surprisingly slowly, and trapped steam can burst in small explosions. Meltwater can also cause floods or lahars. The footage, credited to ABC7 Los Angeles, shows lava advancing over snow.
DID YOUKNOW?MUDDD-390
MUD
Mudflows are fast-moving mixtures of water, mud and debris that pour downhill when loose soil becomes saturated, often after heavy rain, during volcanic eruptions (lahars), or when dams or embankments fail. They can bury roads, buildings and vegetation under thick deposits. The footage shows a mudflow surging down a valley.
DID YOUKNOW?Clouds From the GroundDD-388
Clouds From the Ground
Cloud seeding adds particles such as silver iodide or salt to clouds so water vapor condenses or freezes on them, potentially increasing rain or snow. Ground-based generators burn a silver iodide solution and rely on winds to carry the particles into suitable clouds; aircraft are used too. How much precipitation it adds is debated. The footage shows a large vapor plume billowing from a ground test stand; it does not appear to show cloud seeding itself.
DID YOUKNOW?The DullaDD-381
The Dulla
The dulla is a male dromedary camel's soft palate, which he inflates and pushes out of the side of his mouth as a pink, balloon-like sac during the rutting season. It comes with gurgling sounds and is used to attract females and warn rival males. The footage shows camels displaying their dullas.
DID YOUKNOW?Leafy SheepDD-377
Leafy Sheep
Costasiella kuroshimae, nicknamed the leaf sheep, is a sea slug about 5 millimeters long found in shallow waters around Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Its back is covered in green, leaf-like cerata. It eats algae and keeps their chloroplasts in its tissues, a process called kleptoplasty; how much energy it gains from them is still studied. The footage shows macro views of the slug.
DID YOUKNOW?Wakey WakeyDD-375
Wakey Wakey
A dormant volcano has not erupted in a long time but could again. It can reawaken when new magma rises into its plumbing, when gases build pressure in the chamber, or when tectonic movement opens fractures. Scientists watch for earthquakes, ground swelling and gas changes. Mount Pinatubo, quiet for about 500 years, erupted in 1991. The footage shows an erupting volcano.
DID YOUKNOW?Water in the DesertDD-372
Water in the Desert
Desert sand is loose and porous, with large gaps between grains, so water infiltrates quickly. It sinks until it reaches less permeable layers such as clay or bedrock; some can recharge aquifers, though much evaporates in desert heat. The footage shows water rushing across sand and soaking in at the front.
DID YOUKNOW?Urban Flood ControlDD-369
Urban Flood Control
Urban flooding happens when heavy rain overwhelms a city's drainage. Impermeable surfaces such as concrete, asphalt and rooftops keep water from soaking into the soil, so runoff rushes into storm drains faster than they can carry it. Cities respond with larger drains, retention basins, permeable pavement and green spaces. The footage shows floodwater surging through city streets.
DID YOUKNOW?Garbage WaterDD-367
Garbage Water
Trash traps such as floating booms, trash racks and mesh screens are installed in rivers, canals, storm drains and outfalls to catch plastics and debris before they reach larger bodies of water. Racks block large items and finer screens catch smaller particles; the collected waste is removed by crews. The footage shows a floating boom collecting trash in an urban canal.
DID YOUKNOW?Eggs, Anyone?DD-362
Eggs, Anyone?
Mosquitoes lay eggs in or near standing or slow-moving water, where larvae develop. Some genera, such as Culex, lay eggs in floating clusters called rafts, while others, like Aedes, lay eggs singly on damp surfaces where they can survive drying until flooded. Eggs often hatch within a few days. The footage shows a mosquito laying eggs on water.
DID YOUKNOW?Woolly MonkeysDD-357
Woolly Monkeys
Woolly monkeys (genus Lagothrix) live in the rainforests of northwestern South America, including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. Their thick, woolly fur ranges from brown to black, and their prehensile tails grip branches like an extra hand. They eat mostly fruit plus leaves and insects, and live in social groups that the Reel puts at 10 to 30 animals. The footage shows woolly monkeys up close.
DID YOUKNOW?To Bill a Mogging BirdDD-354
To Bill a Mogging Bird
The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) is a large, stork-like wading bird of central and eastern African swamps, in countries including Uganda, Zambia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is named for its huge, shoe-shaped bill, which the Reel puts at up to about 9.4 inches (24 cm). Shoebills stand very still before lunging at prey such as lungfish. The footage shows shoebills staring at the camera.
DID YOUKNOW?Propping Up the Coastline!DD-352
Propping Up the Coastline!
Mangroves grow along tropical and subtropical coasts. Their tangled above-ground prop roots and dense vegetation create friction that slows water and absorbs wave energy, reducing erosion and protecting shorelines and settlements from storm surge. The footage shows waves passing through a mangrove stand.
DID YOUKNOW?Cliffside Honey HeistDD-351
Cliffside Honey Heist
In mountainous parts of China, Nepal and elsewhere in Asia, honey hunters harvest wild honeycombs from colonies on steep cliffs, often those of giant honeybees. The Reel describes the practice in Yunnan and Sichuan: climbers rappel or use ropes and ladders, then cut the comb with long poles. The honey is valued locally for its flavor. The footage shows climbers removing comb from a cliff hive.
DID YOUKNOW?Hyalophora cecropiaDD-349
Hyalophora cecropia
The cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is North America's largest native moth, with a wingspan of up to about 6 inches (15 cm), sometimes more. It belongs to the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths, and has reddish-brown wings banded in white, red and black. Adults have no functional mouthparts and live only a week or two on energy stored as caterpillars. The footage shows adult moths.
DID YOUKNOW?JUMP!DD-343
JUMP!
Peacock spiders (genus Maratus) are tiny Australian jumping spiders, most only about 4 to 6 millimeters long. Males raise a brightly colored flap on the abdomen, like a peacock's tail, and court females with leg waves, vibrations and side-to-side steps. Females may attack males whose display fails to impress. The footage shows a male displaying.
DID YOUKNOW?Leech GourmetDD-342
Leech Gourmet
Not all leeches drink blood. Some land and freshwater leeches are predators that hunt earthworms and other invertebrates, seizing prey and swallowing it whole or sucking out its fluids. The Reel names Haemadipsa picta, the tiger leech, which is usually described as a blood-feeder, so I attributed the species claim to the Reel. The footage shows a leech consuming an earthworm.
DID YOUKNOW?Slime TalkDD-336
Slime Talk
Slime molds are neither fungi nor animals; most are amoeba-like organisms. Some live as single cells that gather into a multicellular mass when food runs short, while others, such as Physarum polycephalum, grow as one giant cell with many nuclei. In a 2000 experiment, Toshiyuki Nakagaki and colleagues showed that Physarum could find the shortest route through a maze to food. The footage, credited to the BBC, shows yellow slime molds spreading.
DID YOUKNOW?Preserve Your BubblesDD-326
Preserve Your Bubbles
When a soap bubble is blown in air well below freezing, the thin water film begins to freeze. Ice crystals form and spread across the surface in branching patterns, swirled by currents in the film, until the bubble becomes a fragile frozen shell. Very low temperatures help the whole bubble freeze before it pops. The footage shows bubbles freezing outdoors on a snowy day.
DID YOUKNOW?Solid SnakeDD-325
Solid Snake
The western bush viper (Atheris chlorechis) is a small, tree-dwelling viper of West African rainforests. Its green to yellowish scales camouflage it among leaves, and adults usually measure about 50 to 70 centimeters (20 to 28 inches). Its venom causes pain, swelling and tissue damage; bites to humans are rare but need medical care. The footage shows a green bush viper on branches.
DID YOUKNOW?They Don't Age!DD-322
They Don't Age!
Hydras are freshwater animals a few millimeters long, with a tubular body and a mouth ringed by stinging tentacles that catch tiny prey. They can regenerate a whole body from a small fragment. Studies of Hydra vulgaris found that its death rate does not rise with age, so it shows no measurable aging, which makes it a model for research on regeneration and longevity. The footage shows a hydra under a microscope.
DID YOUKNOW?The Hills Have LungsDD-321
The Hills Have Lungs
In very strong winds, trees sway hard enough that their shallow root plates lift and drop, raising and lowering the soil and moss on top of them. On video the forest floor seems to breathe. The motion is a sign of stress that can end in a tree being uprooted. The footage shows a forest floor heaving during a windstorm.
DID YOUKNOW?Glacial WaterfallsDD-316
Glacial Waterfalls
Glacial waterfalls form where meltwater from a glacier flows over a cliff or the ice edge. In warm seasons, faster melting makes the falls bigger. Meltwater carries fine ground rock, called rock flour, which gives it a milky look. The footage shows a meltwater river cutting across an ice sheet and pouring over an ice cliff.
DID YOUKNOW?Leaf Home in the SkyDD-311
Leaf Home in the Sky
Baya weavers are small, sociable birds of South and Southeast Asia. Males weave hanging, retort-shaped nests from strips of grass and palm leaves, often building several to attract females. The nests hang from branches and have a long, downward-facing entrance tube that helps keep predators out. The footage shows baya weavers at their nests.
DID YOUKNOW?Underwater AngelsDD-310
Underwater Angels
Sea angels (order Gymnosomata, part of the pteropods) are small, shell-less marine snails. Their translucent, gelatinous bodies carry two wing-like flaps that they beat to swim. They live in cold seas, from the surface to deeper water, and feed mainly on shelled pteropods called sea butterflies. The footage shows sea angels swimming.
DID YOUKNOW?Bacteria HuntersDD-309
Bacteria Hunters
Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria. A phage attaches to a bacterium and injects its genetic material, hijacking the cell to make new phages. Enzymes then break down the cell wall, the bacterium bursts and the new phages are released. Because they destroy bacteria this way, phages are studied as a possible antibacterial therapy, called phage therapy. The footage is an animation of phages attacking a bacterium.
DID YOUKNOW?Flaming JelliesDD-308
Flaming Jellies
The flame jellyfish (Rhopilema esculentum) is a large jellyfish of coastal waters off China, Korea and Japan. Its bell is translucent with a reddish-brown tint, and it trails tentacles armed with stinging cells to catch plankton. It is not considered seriously dangerous to people and is harvested as food in East Asia. The footage shows flame jellyfish swimming.
DID YOUKNOW?Microscopic ExtremophilesDD-307
Microscopic Extremophiles
Tardigrades, also called water bears or moss piglets, are microscopic animals usually about 0.3 to 0.5 millimeters long. In a dried-out state they can survive extreme heat and cold, radiation and even the vacuum of space. They do this through cryptobiosis, losing almost all their water and slowing their metabolism to nearly undetectable levels. The footage shows tardigrades under a microscope.
DID YOUKNOW?A REEL Deep DiveDD-306
A REEL Deep Dive
Female deep-sea anglerfish have a bioluminescent lure, called an esca, on a modified dorsal fin spine that extends over the head. The glow attracts prey in the dark depths. When prey comes close, the anglerfish opens its large, hinged jaw and swallows it whole in an instant. The footage shows an anglerfish on the seafloor.
DID YOUKNOW?Linking UpDD-302
Linking Up
Inside thunderstorms, collisions between ice crystals, graupel (soft hail) and supercooled droplets in strong updrafts separate electric charge. Typically the upper cloud becomes positively charged and the middle to lower region negatively charged. When the charge difference grows large enough, the air breaks down and a lightning discharge flashes within the cloud, between clouds, or to the ground. The channel heats the air to around 50,000 °F, and the sudden expansion makes thunder. The footage alternates storm clouds lit by lightning with a dish of metal balls in oil that line up into chains under high voltage, a demonstration of charges linking up, which I read as an exemplar, not lightning itself.
DID YOUKNOW?Iceberg BlueDD-299
Iceberg Blue
Glacier ice forms as snow is buried and compressed over years, squeezing out air bubbles. Ice and water absorb a little more red light than blue, so over long paths through clear ice, red is removed and the light that comes back looks blue. Snow and bubbly ice look white because countless surfaces scatter all colors before much is absorbed. So deep, dense, bubble-free ice in a glacier or iceberg looks the most blue. The footage shows a glacier front calving blue ice into the sea.
DID YOUKNOW?Liquid RockDD-298
Liquid Rock
Lava is molten rock erupted at the surface; underground, the same material is called magma. Most magma forms in the upper mantle, and a key way rock melts there is decompression: as hot mantle rises, the pressure on it drops and it partly melts, which is why mid-ocean ridges and hotspots such as Iceland and Hawaii are so volcanic. Erupted lava typically ranges from about 700 to 1,200 °C (1,300 to 2,200 °F). Runny basaltic lava can travel quickly, while silica-rich lava is thick and slow. As it cools, lava can crack into hexagonal basalt columns or build up islands. The footage is drone video of lava fountaining and flowing in Iceland.
DID YOUKNOW?A Web of WonderDD-294
A Web of Wonder
Spiders make silk in abdominal glands and draw it out through spinnerets at the rear of the abdomen. Different glands make different silks: dry, strong dragline silk for frames and radii, and gluey capture silk for the spiral that holds prey. An orb weaver typically lays a bridge line, builds a frame and radii, puts in a temporary spiral, then replaces it with the sticky capture spiral. Spider silk combines high strength with stretch, so it absorbs the energy of flying insects. Web shapes vary by family, from orb webs to sheet webs and funnel webs, and web building is largely innate. The footage shows an orb weaver spinning its web.
DID YOUKNOW?Worms This FlatDD-293
Worms This Flat
Marine polyclad flatworms (Polycladida) are thin, often brightly patterned flatworms found mostly on reefs and rocky shores. They glide on beds of cilia and muscular waves, and most are carnivores that eat small invertebrates such as sea squirts, snails and crustaceans. Some species' bright colors are thought to warn predators that they're distasteful or toxic. The famous experiments where a flatworm is cut into pieces and each regrows into a whole animal mostly involve freshwater planarians, which carry stem cells called neoblasts. The footage shows several colorful marine flatworms rippling over coral and rock.
DID YOUKNOW?Totally Radula!DD-292
Totally Radula!
Velvet worms (Onychophora) are soft, many-legged invertebrates of humid tropical and southern temperate forests. They hunt small invertebrates by squirting a sticky slime from glands near the head that hardens and traps the prey, then inject saliva and eat it. There are two living families, Peripatidae and Peripatopsidae, and species range from tiny to the largest known, Mongeperipatus solorzanoi of Costa Rica, at about 22 cm. Velvet worms live in Southeast Asia, but I couldn't verify a species called the 'giant red velvet worm' there or the 20 cm figure for it. The title's 'radula' is a pun: a radula is a mollusk's rasping tongue, which velvet worms don't have; they bite with jaws. The footage shows a reddish velvet worm walking over moss.
DID YOUKNOW?Amazing Underwater ForestsDD-291
Amazing Underwater Forests
Kelp forests are dense stands of large brown algae (kelp) that grow in cool, shallow, nutrient-rich coastal waters. NOAA notes that kelp can grow up to 18 inches (45 cm) a day in ideal conditions and is rarely found deeper than about 15 to 40 m. Giant kelp (Macrocystis) can grow 30 to 60 cm vertically per day and form a floating canopy at the surface. The forests shelter and feed fish, invertebrates and marine mammals. Kelp is an alga, not a true plant, and like other seaweeds it takes up carbon dioxide as it grows. The footage shows divers' views of tall kelp fronds with fish swimming among them.
DID YOUKNOW?The Ghost MushroomDD-289
The Ghost Mushroom
The ghost fungus, Omphalotus nidiformis, is a bioluminescent mushroom found mainly in southern Australia and Tasmania, with reports from India in 2012 and 2018. Its fan- or funnel-shaped caps grow in overlapping clusters on dead or dying wood, often eucalypts, and give off a soft green glow in the dark. Fungal bioluminescence comes from an enzyme, luciferase, oxidizing a luciferin molecule. English naturalist Miles Joseph Berkeley first described it in 1844 as Agaricus nidiformis, from material collected by the Scottish naturalist James Drummond. It resembles edible oyster mushrooms but is poisonous: not lethal, but eating it causes severe cramps and vomiting, which are attributed to compounds called illudins. The footage shows clusters of green-glowing mushrooms on a tree at night.
DID YOUKNOW?No Perfect CrystallizationsDD-288
No Perfect Crystallizations
A snow crystal starts when supercooled cloud droplets freeze onto a tiny particle such as dust or pollen, and then grows as water vapor deposits directly onto the ice. Ice's crystal structure gives it six-fold symmetry, so crystals grow as hexagonal plates, columns or branching stars. Which shape wins depends on temperature and humidity, so as a crystal tumbles through changing conditions, each stage leaves its mark on its arms. Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, who grows snow crystals in the lab, explains that complex flakes are almost certainly never identical because of the huge number of possible growth paths, though very simple crystals can look alike, and researchers have grown 'identical-twin' crystals side by side under matched conditions. The footage shows a time-lapse of a crystal growing branches.
DID YOUKNOW?Bark BeatersDD-276
Bark Beaters
The white-bellied woodpecker is a large woodpecker of South and Southeast Asia. It is mostly black with a white belly, and males have a red crown. It drums on trees to communicate and digs into wood for insects. Its nest cavities are later used by other animals, and its need for mature forest makes it a sign of forest health. The footage shows white-bellied woodpeckers on tree trunks.
DID YOUKNOW?What Are You Waiting For?DD-273
What Are You Waiting For?
An avalanche is a mass of snow sliding rapidly down a slope. It can be triggered by heavy snowfall, temperature changes or people. The Reel says avalanches can reach 80 miles per hour; typical slab avalanches do, and large powder avalanches can be faster. An avalanche can bury people, destroy buildings and flatten forests. For people caught in one, the main dangers are burial, traumatic injury and hypothermia. The footage shows a large avalanche filmed from a rocky slope.
DID YOUKNOW?Flying FishermenDD-272
Flying Fishermen
Several eagles are skilled fishers, including the bald eagle and the African fish eagle. They spot fish from high above, dive and grab them with sharp talons. When a catch is too heavy to lift, an eagle may swim to shore using its wings. The Reel says the fishing success rate can reach 90%; I could not confirm that figure, and success rates vary widely. The footage shows bald eagles.
DID YOUKNOW?CASCADEDD-269
CASCADE
When a drop of water lands gently on a pool, a thin film of air can keep it from merging at once, so it appears to bounce. It then partly merges, leaving behind a smaller drop, and this repeats in what is called a coalescence cascade until the drop is fully absorbed. Surface tension holds each drop's shape between the stages. The footage is a slow-motion lab recording of a drop falling from a needle.
DID YOUKNOW?The Baobab TreeDD-268
The Baobab Tree
Baobabs (genus Adansonia) are known for their massive, swollen trunks and sparse branches. The nine species are native to mainland Africa, Madagascar and Australia, and some trees live for well over 1,000 years. Their trunks store water that helps them survive long dry seasons. Baobab fruit is rich in vitamin C, and the bark fiber can be made into rope and cloth. The footage shows a car driving along an avenue of baobabs.
DID YOUKNOW?About to BlowDD-267
About to Blow
An eruption becomes explosive when gases dissolved in magma expand rapidly as it nears the surface, shattering the magma into ash and rock that are blasted into the atmosphere. Explosive eruptions can produce pyroclastic flows, fast avalanches of hot gas, ash and rock, as well as ash clouds that threaten aviation and human health. Monitoring volcanoes helps scientists predict eruptions and reduce their impact. The footage shows a lava lake and fountaining lava from above.
DID YOUKNOW?The Fingers of DeathDD-264
The Fingers of Death
A brinicle is a hollow tube of ice that grows downward from sea ice in polar waters. As seawater freezes, salt is expelled as very cold, dense brine, which sinks and freezes the less salty seawater around it, forming a tube. If it reaches the seabed, ice can spread across the bottom and trap slow-moving animals such as sea stars and sea urchins. A BBC crew filmed one forming in Antarctica in 2011 for the series Frozen Planet. The footage shows a brinicle growing and spreading, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Very SlipperyDD-262
Very Slippery
Snakes move in four main ways: lateral undulation (serpentine movement), rectilinear movement, sidewinding and concertina movement. Lateral undulation, the most common, sends waves along the body that push against bumps and surfaces; the snake's belly scales grip in one direction and slide in the other. On very smooth surfaces there is little to push against, so a snake can thrash without moving forward. The footage shows a pale snake struggling to move on a slick surface, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Earth's Harshest BiomeDD-212
Earth's Harshest Biome
Tundra is a treeless biome where cold temperatures and short growing seasons limit plant growth. Arctic tundra rings the far north, and alpine tundra occurs on high mountains; small areas of Antarctic tundra exist too. Below the surface lies permafrost, ground that stays frozen for at least two years in a row. Mosses, lichens, sedges and dwarf shrubs grow there, and animals include caribou, Arctic foxes and many migratory birds that breed in summer. Permafrost holds large amounts of organic carbon, and warming that thaws it can release carbon dioxide and methane. The footage shows tundra landscapes behind the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Where Your Food Is GrownDD-211
Where Your Food Is Grown
Plains are broad areas of flat or gently rolling land. Many have deep, fertile soils built up by rivers, glaciers or wind-blown loess, which makes them some of the world's most productive farmland; the North American Great Plains and the Eurasian steppe are major grain regions. Grasslands on plains support grazing animals such as bison in North America and antelope and gazelles in Africa and Asia. Floodplains along rivers absorb floodwaters and renew soils with fresh sediment. The footage shows plains, farmland and herds, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Carved by Ancient RiversDD-210
Carved by Ancient Rivers
A canyon is a deep, narrow valley with steep sides, most often cut by a river over millions of years. As the land is uplifted or the base level drops, the river keeps cutting down, exposing layered rock in the walls; geologists read these layers as a record of past environments. The Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River, exposes rocks spanning nearly 2 billion years. Canyons are also shaped by weathering, flash floods and, in some places, glaciers. Many are protected as parks. The footage shows canyons from the air and the rim, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?The Order of PterosauriaDD-203
The Order of Pterosauria
Pterosaurs (order Pterosauria) were flying reptiles, close relatives of dinosaurs but not dinosaurs themselves. They were the first vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight, on wings of skin stretched along a hugely long fourth finger. Pteranodon lived in North America about 86 to 84.5 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous. Adult males had wingspans of about 5.6 to 6 m or more, with some estimates near 7 m, and a long, backward-pointing crest. It flew over the sea and ate fish. The footage shows pterosaur reconstructions, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?The Cretaceous KingDD-202
The Cretaceous King
Tyrannosaurus rex was a large meat-eating dinosaur that lived in western North America about 68 to 66 million years ago. The largest specimens reached about 12 m long and weighed an estimated 8 tonnes or more, with hips about 4 m off the ground. Its arms were short but strong, while its legs and tail were powerful. Studies estimate it had one of the strongest bites of any land animal, able to crush bone, and a keen sense of smell. How it balanced hunting with scavenging is still debated. The footage shows Tyrannosaurus reconstructions, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Three-Horned-Face!DD-201
Three-Horned-Face!
Triceratops was a large plant-eating ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in western North America about 68 to 66 million years ago, at the very end of the Cretaceous, making it one of the last non-avian dinosaurs. Its name means 'three-horned face'. It had a long horn above each eye, a shorter horn on the nose, and a solid bony frill. Healed injuries on fossils suggest the horns were used in fights with rivals, and possibly in defense; the frill may have served for display. It cropped plants with a parrot-like beak. Adults grew to about 8 to 9 m long. The footage shows Triceratops reconstructions, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Visit This Tropical ParadiseDD-200
Visit This Tropical Paradise
Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. A central island of volcanic origin, topped by Mount Otemanu (727 m), the eroded remnant of an extinct volcano, sits inside a lagoon ringed by a barrier reef and motu (small islets). The island is known for luxury resorts with overwater bungalows, and for snorkeling and diving among coral, reef fish, rays and sharks. The footage shows the lagoon, bungalows and reef life, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Soft Coral Capital of the World!DD-199
Soft Coral Capital of the World!
Fiji is an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific, made up of more than 330 islands, about 110 of them permanently inhabited. Its largest island is Viti Levu, home to the capital, Suva, and to the Coral Coast, a stretch of the south shore lined with fringing reefs and resorts. Fiji's reefs are famous for soft corals, earning it the nickname 'soft coral capital of the world', with sites such as the Rainbow Reef. The interior of Viti Levu has rainforest, waterfalls and traditional villages. The footage shows Fiji's beaches, reefs, waterfalls and villages, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Long-Living Like LarryDD-194
Long-Living Like Larry
Lobsters show indeterminate growth: they keep growing throughout life by molting their exoskeleton. Older lobsters remain fertile and don't show obvious signs of aging in the usual ways, partly because they keep producing telomerase, an enzyme linked to cell repair. Lobsters aren't immortal, though. Each molt takes more energy as they get bigger, and many old lobsters die from exhaustion during molting or from shell disease. American lobsters are estimated to live for decades, possibly 100 years. The footage shows lobsters on the seabed and in aquariums, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Blue BloodsDD-193
Blue Bloods
Squid, like octopuses and cuttlefish, have three hearts: two branchial hearts pump blood through the gills, and a systemic heart pumps it around the body. Their blood is blue when oxygenated because it uses hemocyanin, a copper-containing protein, to carry oxygen, instead of the iron-based hemoglobin in human red blood cells. Hemocyanin is dissolved in the blood rather than packed into cells. The footage shows squid swimming, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Really, Killer! WhalesDD-192
Really, Killer! Whales
The orca, or killer whale (Orcinus orca), is the largest member of the dolphin family. Many populations live in matrilineal groups in which offspring stay with their mothers, and older females, including post-reproductive grandmothers, lead the group and help it find food. Pods cooperate to hunt, sometimes using techniques passed on within the group. Orca pods have distinct vocal dialects, sets of calls shared within a group and different from other groups'. The footage shows orca pods hunting and swimming, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Seahorse SecretsDD-191
Seahorse Secrets
Seahorses (genus Hippocampus) are small marine fish. They are among the few animals in which the male becomes pregnant: during mating the female deposits her eggs into a brood pouch on the male's belly, where he fertilizes them and supplies oxygen and nutrients as they develop. After roughly two to four weeks, depending on the species, he releases the young through muscular contractions, sometimes hundreds or more at once. The footage shows seahorses and a male giving birth, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Largest Crabs on Earth!DD-190
Largest Crabs on Earth!
Spider crabs are crabs of the superfamily Majoidea, named for their long, thin legs. The Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) has the largest leg span of any arthropod, up to about 3.7 m. Many spider crabs decorate their shells with sponges, algae and debris for camouflage. In southern Australia, giant spider crabs (Leptomithrax gaimardii) gather in huge aggregations of thousands each year to molt together, which researchers think protects them while their new shells harden. The footage shows spider crab aggregations and Japanese spider crabs, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Serving Great WhiteDD-189
Serving Great White
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a large predatory shark found in coastal waters worldwide. Off places such as South Africa's False Bay, great whites ambush Cape fur seals from below at speed, sometimes breaching clear of the water. Like many sharks, great whites can be put into tonic immobility, a trance-like state, often by turning them upside down; researchers use it to handle sharks more safely. Orcas have also been seen using the effect on sharks. The footage shows great whites breaching and swimming, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Based BunniesDD-179
Based Bunnies
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae, together with hares. They have long ears, strong hind legs and short, fluffy tails. Rabbits are herbivores that eat mostly grasses and other plants, and their teeth grow continuously throughout life, so they need tough, fibrous food to keep them worn down. Females have a gestation of about a month and can have several litters a year; the young are called kits or kittens. Rabbits are crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk. The footage shows rabbits feeding and resting, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Shear DelightDD-178
Shear Delight
Sheep (Ovis aries) are social flock animals. In a 2001 study, researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge found that sheep could recognize the faces of about 50 other sheep and remember them for up to two years. A 2017 study showed sheep could also learn to recognize photos of familiar human faces. Sheep have a wide field of view and good hearing, including higher frequencies than people can hear. The footage shows sheep in fields and flocks, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Amazing Bear AbilityDD-177
Amazing Bear Ability
Bears have one of the keenest senses of smell of any land mammal. Their large nasal cavities hold a huge surface of scent-detecting tissue. The US National Park Service says a bear's sense of smell is about seven times better than a bloodhound's, and bears are widely reported to smell food from miles away. They use smell to find food, track mates and cubs, and detect other bears and people. The footage shows bears sniffing and foraging, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Your Favorite BeetleDD-176
Your Favorite Beetle
Ladybugs, or ladybirds, are small beetles of the family Coccinellidae, with about 6,000 species. Many are brightly colored and spotted, which warns predators that they taste bad. Most species are predators of soft-bodied pests such as aphids, scale insects and mites, and some have been released for biological pest control. A few species eat plants or fungi instead. Ladybugs appear in folklore in many cultures as a sign of good luck. The footage shows ladybugs on plants, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Nectar CollectorsDD-175
Nectar Collectors
Butterflies have taste receptors on their palps and feet, and the tips of their antennae carry receptors that detect odors. By landing on a leaf and touching it with their feet, females can check whether a plant is a suitable host for their caterpillars before laying eggs. The same senses help adults find nectar, which they drink through a long coiled proboscis. The footage shows butterflies feeding on flowers, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Busy Busy BeesDD-174
Busy Busy Bees
Honey bees use the waggle dance to tell nestmates where to find food, water or new nest sites. A returning forager runs a figure-eight on the comb; the angle of the straight 'waggle run' relative to vertical shows the direction of the food relative to the Sun, and the duration of the waggle shows the distance. Karl von Frisch decoded the dance and shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on bee behavior. The footage shows bees on flowers and in the hive, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?SakuraDD-173
Sakura
Cherry blossoms, sakura in Japanese, are the flowers of several Prunus species. In Japan they bloom briefly in spring, and their timing depends mainly on temperature, so warm springs bring earlier blooms. The Japan Meteorological Agency and private forecasters track a 'cherry blossom front' moving north. Hanami, the custom of viewing the blossoms, dates back over a thousand years, and records of bloom dates in Kyoto go back to the 9th century. The footage shows blossoming trees, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Sun SeekersDD-172
Sun Seekers
Young sunflower plants (Helianthus annuus) show heliotropism: before the flower heads open, the buds turn to follow the Sun from east to west during the day and swing back to face east overnight. The motion is driven by an internal clock and uneven stem growth. Once the heads mature and bloom, they stop tracking and mostly stay facing east, which warms them in the morning and draws more pollinators. A uniform field of east-facing heads can give the false impression that open flowers track the Sun. The footage shows sunflower fields, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Feeling RosyDD-171
Feeling Rosy
Roses belong to the genus Rosa in the family Rosaceae, with over 300 species and tens of thousands of cultivars. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers from Europe, North America and northwest Africa. Roses have been grown since ancient times for their beauty and scent; rose oil from petals is used in perfume, and rose hips and rose water are used in food. The footage shows rose gardens and blooms, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Exceptionally Emerald!DD-170
Exceptionally Emerald!
Emerald is the green variety of the mineral beryl, colored by traces of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Its name comes, via Old French and Latin, from the Greek smaragdos, 'green gem'. Colombia is the world's largest producer, and its Muzo mine is famous for fine emeralds. Most emeralds have inclusions, nicknamed 'jardin' (French for garden) for their mossy look, and these are widely accepted. The footage shows rough and cut emeralds, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Opulent OpalDD-169
Opulent Opal
Opal is hydrated amorphous silica. Precious opal shows play-of-color, flashes of spectral color that shift with the viewing angle, while common opal doesn't. The effect comes from diffraction: precious opal is built from tiny silica spheres packed in a regular lattice, and their size and spacing set which colors appear. Australia produces most of the world's precious opal. Folklore around opals ranges from good luck to bad luck. The footage shows polished and rough opals, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Ruby RedDD-167
Ruby Red
Ruby is the red gem variety of corundum, crystalline aluminum oxide. Its color comes from small amounts of chromium; corundum in other colors is called sapphire. Color is the most important factor in a ruby's value, with a deep, vivid red (often called 'pigeon's blood') prized most. Rubies rate 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, behind only diamond among common gems. Rubies have long carried cultural meanings of passion and protection in many traditions. The footage shows cut and rough rubies, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Turning RedDD-164
Turning Red
The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a small mammal of the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China, including Nepal, Bhutan, India and Myanmar. It's the only living member of its own family, Ailuridae, and isn't closely related to the giant panda or other bears. It has reddish-brown fur, a ringed tail and, like the giant panda, an enlarged wrist bone that helps it grip bamboo. Red pandas are skilled climbers and spend much of their time in trees. They are listed as Endangered. One of their nicknames is 'firefox'. The footage shows red pandas climbing and eating, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?King CobraDD-163
King Cobra
The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the world's longest venomous snake, reaching about 5.5 m, with a record of about 5.85 m. It lives in forests from India through Southeast Asia to southern China and Indonesia. When threatened it raises the front of its body and spreads a hood formed by elongated ribs and loose skin. It feeds mainly on other snakes. In 2024, researchers proposed splitting it into four species. The footage shows king cobras raising their hoods, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Sea CowsDD-162
Sea Cows
The dugong (Dugong dugon) is a marine mammal related to manatees; together they form the order Sirenia, often called sea cows. Dugongs live in warm coastal waters from East Africa and the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to Australia and the western Pacific. Adults are typically about 3 m long and often weigh 250 to 400 kg, though large individuals can be heavier. They feed almost entirely on seagrass, swim with a fluked tail, and usually dive for a few minutes at a time. The species is listed as Vulnerable. The footage shows dugongs grazing and swimming, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Golden MonkeysDD-161
Golden Monkeys
The golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is an Old World monkey of the mountain forests of central and southwest China. It has golden-orange fur, a pale blue face and a short, upturned nose. It lives at about 1,500 to 3,400 m, where winters bring snow, and eats lichens, leaves, bark, buds and seeds. Groups are organized as small units, each with one male, several females and young, which join together in large bands. The species is listed as Endangered. The footage shows golden snub-nosed monkeys in snowy forests, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?These Cats Are ClimbingDD-160
These Cats Are Climbing
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is a big cat with a pale yellow to golden coat marked by dark rosettes. It has the widest range of any wild cat, across much of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, from rainforest to desert edges and mountains. Leopards are strong climbers and often haul their kills into trees, sometimes prey heavier than themselves, to keep them away from lions and hyenas. They are mostly solitary and active at night. The footage shows leopards in trees and on the ground, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Panda Panda PandaDD-159
Panda Panda Panda
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a bear native to the mountains of central China. Bamboo makes up more than 99% of its diet. A panda grips bamboo with a 'pseudo-thumb', an enlarged wrist bone (the radial sesamoid). Females are fertile for only about two to three days a year, and breeding programs have used artificial insemination. The IUCN downgraded the species from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016 as wild numbers rose. The footage shows giant pandas eating and climbing, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Cloud EnvyDD-154
Cloud Envy
Lenticular clouds are stationary, lens-shaped clouds. They form when stable, moist air flows over a mountain or other obstacle and sets up a series of atmospheric waves downwind. Where the air rises in a wave, it cools and its moisture condenses into cloud; where it sinks again, the cloud evaporates. Because the wave stays in place, the cloud seems to hover. Layers can stack into a 'pile of plates'. Glider pilots use the lift in these waves, while powered aircraft may avoid the turbulence. Their saucer shape has led to some UFO reports. The footage shows lenticular clouds over mountains, including Mount Fuji, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?IguazuDD-153
Iguazu
Iguazu Falls are waterfalls on the Iguazu River, on the border between Argentina's Misiones Province and Brazil's Paraná state. The system is made up of about 275 individual falls along roughly 2.7 km (1.7 miles) of the river's edge. The largest, the Devil's Throat, is a U-shaped chasm. The falls sit within two national parks, Iguazú in Argentina and Iguaçu in Brazil, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, surrounded by subtropical Atlantic Forest. The footage shows the falls from above and from viewpoints, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?DolphinsDD-145
Dolphins
Dolphins breathe voluntarily, so they can't fully lose consciousness for long. Instead they use unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, in which one half of the brain sleeps while the other stays awake. During it, the eye opposite the waking hemisphere often stays open, which lets the animal surface to breathe, watch for threats and keep in contact with its group. The behavior is also seen in some other marine mammals and in birds. The footage shows dolphins swimming, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Humpback WhalesDD-144
Humpback Whales
The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a baleen whale known for its songs, which are sung by males. A song is built from repeated themes, usually lasting about 10 to 20 minutes, and males may repeat it for hours. All males in a population sing roughly the same song, which changes over time. A 2011 study found new songs spreading eastward across South Pacific populations over several years, an example researchers describe as cultural transmission. The footage shows humpback whales swimming and breaching, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?JelliesDD-143
Jellies
Jellyfish are the free-swimming medusa stage of certain cnidarians. They move by contracting their bell-shaped bodies, which pushes water out and drives them forward; many species also gain efficiency from vortices formed as the bell relaxes. Jellyfish have no brain, heart or bones, and they're about 95% water. Fossils show jellyfish-like animals at least 500 million years ago, including Burgessomedusa from the Burgess Shale, about 505 million years old, described in 2023. The footage shows jellyfish drifting in blue water, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?RhinosDD-142
Rhinos
There are five living rhinoceros species: white and black in Africa, and Indian (greater one-horned), Javan and Sumatran in Asia. The white rhino is one of the largest land mammals after elephants and has two subspecies, the southern white rhino and the northern white rhino, of which only two females are known to survive. Rhino skin is thick, about 1.5 to 5 cm. Their horns are made of keratin; African and Sumatran rhinos have two horns, while Indian and Javan rhinos have one. Poaching for horn and habitat loss are the main threats, and the Javan, Sumatran and black rhinos are listed as critically endangered. The footage shows rhinos in grassland and forest, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Scaly AnteatersDD-141
Scaly Anteaters
Pangolins are mammals of the order Pholidota, covered in overlapping scales made of keratin. There are eight living species, four in Africa and four in Asia. They are mostly nocturnal and use strong claws to dig into ant and termite nests, catching insects with a long, sticky tongue; they have no teeth. When threatened, a pangolin curls into a tight ball protected by its scales. Pangolins are widely reported as among the most trafficked mammals in the world, hunted for their meat and scales, and all eight species were listed on CITES Appendix I in 2016, banning international commercial trade. The footage shows pangolins foraging and curling up, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?ElephantsDD-140
Elephants
Elephants are the largest living land animals, with three living species: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. Females and young live in close family herds led by an older matriarch, whose experience helps the group find water and avoid danger. A 2006 study found that one of three Asian elephants tested passed the mirror self-recognition test. Researchers have also documented elephants lingering at and touching the remains of dead elephants. Elephants communicate with calls, touch and body language, including infrasonic rumbles below the range of human hearing that can carry for kilometers. The footage shows elephants in the wild, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Suricata SuricattaDD-139
Suricata Suricatta
The meerkat (Suricata suricatta) is a small mongoose of southern Africa's arid regions. Meerkats live in groups called mobs, gangs or clans, typically of 20 to 30 members and up to about 50. While the group forages, one or more sentinels watch from a raised spot and give alarm calls that vary with the type and urgency of the threat. Group members also share babysitting and teach pups to handle prey. The footage shows meerkats standing guard and foraging, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?African GazellesDD-138
African Gazelles
The impala (Aepyceros melampus) is a medium-sized antelope of eastern and southern Africa. It has a reddish-brown coat, and only males carry the lyre-shaped horns. Females and young form herds, and males compete for territories in the breeding season. Impalas are famous leapers, jumping up to about 3 m high and 10 m long, and they snort to warn of predators. They both graze and browse. Though often called gazelles, impalas belong to their own tribe, Aepycerotini, not the gazelle genus. The footage shows impalas running and leaping, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?River RoamersDD-137
River Roamers
Hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius) secrete a red-to-orange fluid sometimes called 'blood sweat'. It's neither: it contains pigments, hipposudoric and norhipposudoric acid, that absorb UV light and may inhibit bacteria. Hippos spend the day in water but can't actually swim or float well; they walk or bounce along the bottom and can stay submerged for around five minutes. On land they can run in short bursts at about 30 km/h. They are among the most dangerous large animals in Africa. The footage shows hippos in rivers and on land, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Fast CatsDD-136
Fast Cats
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is the fastest land animal, reaching about 93-104 km/h (58-65 mph) in short sprints, and it accelerates quickly. It hunts in brief chases rather than long pursuits. Black 'tear marks' run from the inner corner of each eye down to the mouth; they're thought to reduce glare from the sun and help the cat focus on prey, working like a football player's eye black. The footage shows cheetahs running and close-ups of their faces, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Graceful GiantsDD-135
Graceful Giants
Giraffes (Giraffa) have seven cervical vertebrae, the same number as almost all mammals, including humans; each is greatly elongated. Their patchy coat patterns differ between individuals, so researchers can identify giraffes from photographs, and pattern traits are partly inherited from the mother. The footage shows giraffes in the wild, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Kings of the JungleDD-134
Kings of the Jungle
Lions (Panthera leo) are the most social wild cats, living in prides of related females, their cubs and a coalition of one or more adult males. Females do most of the hunting, often cooperatively, while males defend the pride's territory. Lionesses in a pride often give birth around the same time and nurse cubs communally. Despite the nickname 'king of the jungle', lions mostly live in savanna and grassland, not jungle. The footage shows lions resting and hunting, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?EaglesDD-124
Eagles
Eagles have large eyes with densely packed photoreceptors and deep foveae, which let them resolve fine detail at a distance. Behavioral studies show some large-eyed raptors, such as the wedge-tailed eagle, have about twice the spatial resolution of humans; the popular '4 to 8 times' figures don't match those measurements. Their forward-facing eyes also give a useful field of binocular vision for judging distance when striking prey. The footage shows a bald eagle perched and swooping over water, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?StarfishDD-122
Starfish
Sea stars, often called starfish, are echinoderms, related to sea urchins and sand dollars, not fish. Many can regrow lost arms, a process that can take months to a year or more. Because most of their vital organs extend into the arms, some species can regenerate a whole new animal from a single severed arm, as long as it keeps part of the central disc; a few, such as some Linckia species, can do it from an arm alone. Some also reproduce asexually by splitting. The footage shows sea stars on the seabed and close-ups of their tube feet.
DID YOUKNOW?PolarDD-119
Polar
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are strong swimmers and are classed as marine mammals because they spend much of their lives on sea ice and in the sea. Their name means 'maritime bear'. They hunt mainly seals from the ice and can swim long distances between floes, paddling with their large front paws. As sea ice shrinks, some bears have been tracked making very long swims. The footage shows polar bears on ice and in water, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?Emperor PenguinsDD-115
Emperor Penguins
Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) breed during the Antarctic winter, when temperatures can fall below -40 °C, which is also -40 °F. The female lays a single egg and passes it to the male, then heads to sea to feed. The male balances the egg on his feet under a fold of skin, the brood pouch, for about two months, huddling with other males against winds of up to 200 km/h. It's the only penguin species where the male alone incubates. By the time the egg hatches he will have fasted for around 120 days since arriving at the colony. The female returns to take over the chick. The footage shows emperor penguins, eggs and chicks on the ice.
DID YOUKNOW?TigersDD-112
Tigers
Tigers (Panthera tigris) have stripe patterns unique to each animal, so researchers can identify individuals from photographs. Camera-trap surveys use this to estimate how many tigers live in an area and to track them over time, which is central to conservation. The stripes, which run onto the skin, are thought to help break up the cat's outline in tall grass and forest. The footage shows tigers in the wild, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?The Red ForestDD-105
The Red Forest
The Red Forest is the roughly 10 km² (4 sq mi) area of woodland around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Exclusion Zone, in Polesia in The Ukraine. After reactor 4 exploded on April 26, 1986, the pine trees there absorbed very high doses of radiation and died, turning a ginger-brown color that gave the forest its name. During the cleanup the dead trees were bulldozed and buried in trenches. The area remains among the most contaminated in the zone, and wildfires there have raised concern about radioactive smoke. The footage shows the plant and red-tinted forest imagery.
DID YOUKNOW?Last of AntsDD-103
Last of Ants
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a parasitic fungus, now treated as a species complex, that infects carpenter ants in tropical forests. An infected ant leaves its colony, climbs vegetation and bites down on a leaf vein in a 'death grip', usually at a height and humidity that suit the fungus. The fungus then kills the ant, grows a stalk from the back of its head and releases spores onto ants foraging below. Research led by David Hughes found the fungus spreads through the ant's body and muscles, while the brain largely stays free of fungal cells, so the control seems to work through the muscles and chemistry rather than by occupying the brain. The fungus is popularly known as the 'zombie-ant fungus'. The footage shows infected ants and fungal growth.
DID YOUKNOW?Lucky StripeDD-101
Lucky Stripe
Why zebras are striped has been debated since Darwin and Wallace. The best-supported explanation today is protection against biting flies such as horse flies (tabanids), which spread disease. In a 2019 PLOS ONE study, Tim Caro and colleagues filmed flies around zebras and horses in the UK and found flies approached zebras but failed to slow down and land as often as on horses; horses wearing striped coats also got fewer landings. Other ideas, such as camouflage, social signaling and heat control, have weaker support. The footage shows zebras grazing and close-ups of flies.
DID YOUKNOW?PoisOrVen?DD-097
PoisOrVen?
Poison and venom are both toxins, but they're delivered differently. Venom is injected through a bite, sting or spine, as when a snake uses its fangs. A poison works when it's eaten, inhaled or absorbed, for example through the skin. Poison dart frogs (family Dendrobatidae) are poisonous: their skin secretes alkaloid toxins that can harm a predator that touches or eats them. Wild frogs build those toxins from their diet. The footage shows warning symbols, a snake bite demonstration on a hand, snakes and poison dart frogs, with the presenter.
DID YOUKNOW?FirefliesDD-090
Fireflies
Fireflies, also called lightning bugs, are beetles that produce light in their abdomens. The light comes from a reaction in which the enzyme luciferase acts on a compound called luciferin. Fireflies mainly use their flashes to attract mates, and different species have distinct flash patterns.
DID YOUKNOW?HummingbirdDD-088
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are among the smallest birds and have one of the highest metabolic rates of any animal. Their wings beat about 10 to 80 times a second depending on species, and they may visit hundreds of flowers a day, drinking large amounts of nectar relative to their body weight. They also eat small insects and spiders for protein.
DID YOUKNOW?GeodesDD-086
Geodes
Geodes are hollow rocks lined with crystals. They begin as cavities in volcanic or sedimentary rock, such as gas bubbles in lava. Mineral-rich groundwater seeps in and slowly deposits layers of minerals, often quartz, building crystals inward. The color depends on impurities: amethyst is purple because of iron, combined with natural radiation.
DID YOUKNOW?Deadliest Tornado in HistoryDD-085
Deadliest Tornado in History
The Tri-State Tornado of March 18, 1925, crossed Missouri, Illinois and Indiana and killed 695 people, making it the deadliest tornado in U.S. history. Its track was long recorded as 219 miles, the longest on record; a 2013 reanalysis found at least 174 miles was likely one continuous tornado.
DID YOUKNOW?BioInspired RobotsDD-082
BioInspired Robots
Bioinspired robotics designs machines that copy how animals move and sense. Engineers have built flapping-wing drones modeled on insects and birds, robots that climb like geckos, and robotic fish that swim with flexible bodies. Copying these designs can make robots more agile and better suited to particular environments.