Any animal capable of seeing in 3D, such as humans, have the ability to visually perceive depth. No other insect but the Praying mantis is capable of this. Because of this, this predatory insect excels at detecting prey that comes within striking distance, but unlike us, their depth perception only works when the prey is moving.

In a new study, scientists glued the world’s tiniest 3D glasses (above, left) on 20 praying mantises (Sphodromantis lineola) and showed them a series of movies depicting patches of moving dots that were camouflaged against a matching background, and which are perceived as potential prey items to the insect.

The insects tried to catch these dots that appeared to be within 2.5 centimeters of their perch. And they coul ...

Unlike most bees, which hibernate during colder months, honey bees remain active all winter long despite the freezing temperatures.

A honey bee colony’s ability to survive the winter depends on their food stores of honey. Once the colony begins to run out of honey, the worker bees force the useless drones from the hive, to maintain the food store.

As temperatures drop, the honey bee workers form a cluster around the queen and brood, keeping them warm. Bees on the inside of the cluster can feed on the stored honey. If surrounding temperatures rise, the bees on the outside of the group separate a bit, to allow more air flow. As temperatures fall, the cluster tightens, and the outer bees pull together.

As it gets colder, the worker bees actively ...

Take a good look at this if your stomach didn't already turn: this photo is a mother centipede protecting her young.

The creatures appears to be an Amazonian giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantean), which is the largest existing species of centipede in the world, reaching over 30 cm (12 in) in length. It is known to eat lizards, frogs, birds, mice, and even bats, catching them in midflight, as well as rodents and spiders.

Sorry, in advance, if it gives you nightmares ...

The world's worst pain comes from bullet ant venom (shown above). According to Wikipedia, the pain caused by this insect's sting is purported to be greater than that of any other hymenopteran, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt sting pain index, given a '4+" rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp and, according to some victims, equal to being shot, hence the name of the insect. It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours'. The pain is immediate and unlike even the worst physical injuries where your brain eventually has enough of it and blocks out the signal from the offending body part, it does not let go for a good long while.

Want to see some ...

Saharan silver ants live in sands that get as hot as 70°C, but the ants themselves can't get any hotter than 53.6°C. To survive, they've developed a hairy and silvery coating that reflects most of the light that hits them - and keeps them from getting cooked!

According to a new study published in the journal PLOS One, it was found that identical twins are equally attractive to mosquitoes than fraternal - or non-identical - twins. This correlation lead researchers to conclude that mosquitoes might be making preferential choices based on differences in our DNA.

What causes this preferences? While it may be nice to believe that that mosquitoes are attracted to "sweeter blood", it's not true at all. Female mosquitoes - the ones that bite, in order to get protein necessary for egg development - are actually drawn to us by chemical signals related to body odour. ...

Rhino beetles and other ginormous bugs are kept as pets, used in gambling fights, and also eaten as food. You've got to see the size of these things!

The green wings of luna moths, with their elegant, long tails, aren't just about style. New research finds they also help save the insects from becoming bat snacks by creating a distracting acoustic signal, which causes these predators to zero in on the wings rather than more vital body parts.

The deceptive photograph of these nine European bee-eaters huddled wing to wing on a rainy day.

The average termite queen will produce 30,000 eggs PER DAY. And considering these morbidly obese baby-making machines will often live till they're 20 years old, that means 219,000,000 eggs in single a lifetime.

A bite from a bullet ant. A bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) bite is said bring the same amount of pain as an actual bullet wound.

Twice a year, locals in central Nepal scale the Himalayan foothills to harvest honey produced by the world's largest honeybee (Apis dorsata laboriosa). Single adult bees of this species can measure up to 3.0 cm (1.2 in) in length, and are highly adapted to its highland habitat.

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Researchers have uncovered the mechanism that allows spiders to build such strong webs. According to the study, both ends of the spider's silk grand have different pH levels, which helps these proteins become a solid fibre that can be spun into a solid web. The researchers also found that the pH level has different effects on the stability of the two regions at each end of the spidroin proteins.

“While one of the ends tended to pair up with other molecules at the beginning of the duct (N-terminal) and became increasingly stable as the acidity increased along the duct, the other end (C-terminal) destabilised as the acidity increased, and gradually unfolded until it formed the structure characteristic of silk at the acidic pH of 5.5”, ex ...

The three-metre-tall titan arum is one of the world’s stinkiest flowers. It smells like rotting flesh to attract flies and other insects which get stuck at the base and digested. It also only blooms for a few hours to a few days, so is often only seen in bloom in gardens rather than in the wild.

While this little guy may look like some sort of 'Hummingbee' it's actually a Bee Fly. They sneak their eggs into beehives, where their larvae can parasitize bee larvae and eat their food reserves!

Cavers in the Pacific Northwest have discovered a type of spider so unusual it belongs to an entirely new lineage. Researchers describing the creature gave it a genus name - Trogloraptor, or "cave robber" - that derives from both its home habitat and its remarkable claws.

These chips have been made out of cricket carcases. The first edible insect farm in the U.S. has opened in an attempt to create a more sustainable food source. And we should probably try to get over the yuck factor.

The Eighty-Eight Butterfly ( Diaethria anna) is named for its awesome numerical markings.

This Malaysian katydid is one of the largest insects in the world, with their bodies growing to 15 cm (6 inches) long with a 25 cm (10 inch) long wingspan. Though the last thing you want to hear is that this giant insect is carnivorous, they pose absolutely no threat to humans (aside from haunting your dreams, of course).

Relatively speaking, the males of this species have the largest testes of any known animal at 14% of their body weight. If humans had the same ratio, a 91 kg (200 lb) man would have testes that weighed nearly 13 kgs (28 lbs)! ...

Luxury hotels in Sydney are now producing their own honey by setting up bee colonies on their rooftops. The Shangri-La already has five rooftop beehives that have produced 14 kilograms of honey since late last year for use in the hotel’s restaurants and kitchens. Considering the amount of honey used in these big hotels, this is a pretty promising initiative!

It is not surprising that this family of moths are commonly called woolly bears or woolly worms, as the caterpillars of many species are really very hairy. The larvae can be full of poisonous chemicals acquired from their host plants, advertising that they are bad to eat with bright colours, bad odours and unusual shapes. The adult moths have distinctive wing venation and can also be distasteful when eaten. They produce ultrasonic sounds to warn off predators and confuse bats looking for a tasty treat. There are over 10,000 species worldwide including all the tiger, footmen, wasp and lichen moths. Amazingly, the caterpillars of some species can even survive freezing. ...

This bizarre little guy is an adult male glow-worm beetle. Its feather-like antennae help it detect female pheromones.

Eresus is a genus of velvet spiders comprising several species, including Eresus cinnaberinus and Eresus sandaliatus, both of which are sometimes known as the "Ladybird spider".

This butterfly is half female, half male. It's suffering from bilateral gynandromorphism, which is a rare genetic disorder that afflicts insects, arachnids, crustaceans and birds, and it could be caused when two sperm enter the egg. Humans are not at risk. ...

This is the happy face spider, a spider in the family Theridiidae. Their "smile" keeps predators away.

Some birds, such as woodcreepers and cuckoos, are known to follow army ant raids on forest floors. As the army ant colony travels on the forest floor, they stir up various flying insect species. As the insects flee from the army ants, the birds following the ants catch the fleeing insects. In this way, the army ants and the birds are in a commensalistic relationship because the birds benefit while the army ants are unaffected. ...

Parasitologist espouses using parasitic worms for treatment of autoimmune diseases – Dr. Joel Weinstock, at Tufts Medical Center in a commentary piece published in the journal Nature, describes work that he and colleagues have been involved in that focuses on studying the possibility of introducing parasitic worms into the guts of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease. The thinking he says, is that modern hygienic lifestyles may be contributing to such diseases and that reintroducing parasitic worms and perhaps certain bacteria into the gut may restore a natural balance in the gut and relieve patients of such symptoms as chronic diarrhea, bleeding and infections.

Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-p ...

This pretty little moth from Madagascar, Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica, frequents birds at night and drinks their tears using a specialised harpoon-like proboscis. In the image, H. hieroglyphica prepares to drink tears from a sleeping common Newtonia (Newtonia brunneicauda).

The Amazonian giant centipede is the largest centipede alive, reaching lengths of 30 centimeters. They are carnivorous and feed on lizards, snakes, mice, and even bats. While their venom is not enough to kill an adult human, it may cause reactions with the skin.