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 ...

The aardvark's outsize snout is tailor-made to house a foot-long, sticky tongue that's the perfect tool for extracting termites from their mound nests. Bush-meat hunters are fond of eating aardvarks, but the "antbear" (Orycteropus afer) is still relatively common across sub-Saharan Africa.

Army ants (Eciton hamatum, shown above) can form living bridges without any oversight from a "lead" ant and with a clear cost-benefit ratio. The ants will create a path up to the point when too many workers are being diverted from collecting food and prey. Bridges will be the length of 10 to 20 ants - only a few centimeters, but swarms form several bridges a day, which save collective energy and maximize foraging time. The ants exhibit a level of collective intelligence that could provide new insights into animal behavior.

Watch the video found here: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-ants-bridges-bodies-video.html ...

The pitcher plant, much like the Venus flytrap, is a carnivorous plant that survives by digesting insects. It's sweet nectar entices insects to feed off it, though this may come at a cost as they risk falling into a deadly pool of acid at the bottom of the pitcher plant's bucket-shaped leaf.

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. ...

The most venomous caterpillar in the U.S., known as the furry puss caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis) sent many people in the eastern U.S. to the hospital last September. While these insects may look soft, their outer comb-over hides small, extremely toxic spines that stick in your skin.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/pictures/141223-animals-weirdest-oddest-2014-editors-picks/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20141230news-weirdanimals&utm_campaign=Content&sf6632689=1#/ton-ten-ww-2014-06_87174_600x450.jpg ...