Australian Hornet

Image: James Niland
Abispa ephippium

I get that wasps use bright colours to warn predators of their painful sting. It's a great way to ward off attacks without having to physically do anything, and everyone loves not having to physically do anything...

But surely this is just showing off?

Shovel-nosed Salamander

Image: Todd Pierson
Desmognathus marmoratus

Hmmm...

I think I would call it the People-eyed Salamander.

Striped Bubble Shell

Image: Sylke Rohrlach
Hydatina physis

What is a shell? Armour? Home? Laborious burden? How about fashion accessory?

Edible Sea Urchin

Image: gordon.milligan
Echinus esculentus

It's the hedgehog of the sea!

Megaloremmius leo

Image: Brian Gratwicke
Megaloremmius leo

It's the world's smallest orangutan! But not, as it turns out, the world's smallest spider.

This beauty is a kind of Huntsman Spider from the rain forests of eastern Madagascar. It can reach something like 5 cm (2 in) long! And that doesn't include the legs. M. leo, like the orangutan, has a real talent for ludicrously long limbs.

Not much is known about M. leo. It's as mysterious as it is orange.

Crabs get the prettiest homes

Image: Nick Hobgood

We landlubbers really get the raw end of the deal when it comes to symbiosis. We got parasites, all right. You can hardly walk for the mites, lice and flatworms clinging to every nook and cranny.

The Blues VI

Image: Bernard DUPONT
Corythaeola cristata

It's Blue Monday! Mathematically proven to be the most depressing day of the year by qualified PR professionals who believe the best way to defeat it is with a holiday package bought from their clients. But there's no defeating it. It looms. It impends. It soon comes to a dark night of the soul near YOU! And there are no holidays from one's own soul.

Lipstick Tree

Image: Joan Simon
Bixa orellana

Money doesn't grow on trees, you know. But free, all-natural lipstick does!

Stick Grasshopper

Image: Andreas Kay

What do you get when you mix a grasshopper with a stick insect?

Handfish

Image: John Turnbull

It's already strange to see a fish who prefers to walk rather than swim...

But to walk on his hands, too? I don't even walk on my hands! And I'm supposed to have hands.

Carpet Sea Star

Image: Kris McCracken
Meridiastra calcar

Anyone want a carpet?

Mangrove Cat Snake

Image: Rushen
Boiga dendrophila

It's an 8 foot wasp! Thank goodness it doesn't have wings.

Surgical Precision

Image: Kirkby

Crabs are extremely picky eaters.