Nature is weird. One minute it's producing the most adorable panda you've ever seen, the next it throws in a parasite that bites off the tongue of its host, then pretends to be that tongue.
Yes, as beautiful as nature (and evolution) can be, sometimes it can produce some shockers. Redditors have been sharing some of their favorite "f***ed up animal facts" for all to see and then wish that they could unsee. Below are a few of our favorites. As always, we will jump in if anything needs explaining or elaborating.
Yep, this is a thing. In 2015, entomologist Rassim Khelifa saw a dragonfly fall from the sky and crash to the ground during an unwanted mating advance, before pretending to be dead. When Khelifa approached, the dragonfly made a miraculous recovery from death and flew away. Khelifa went on to document the behavior a further 27 times over the next 72 hours, with the female dragonfly successfully convincing the males they were dead an impressive 21 times.
Again, horribly true. During what can loosely be termed as mating, the male angler fish bites the female and fuses to it, leeching of the female's blood supply and pumping sperm into her.
The male angler fish's organs become useless, except for its testicles, and it shrivels up as it lives the life of a sexual parasite. On the upside, at least it has company. Females have been known to have up to eight shriveled sperm males attached to them at any one time.
Sorry, but you can even watch this one. The orcas turn the sharks upside down, immobilizing them and even drowning them, as the sharks rely on constantly swimming with their mouths open in order to get oxygen flowing through their gills. In the orcas' defence, great white shark livers are oil-rich and full of nutrients.
It's worse than that. Lobsters pee out of their faces onto another lobster's face in order to make them horny. The pee contains pheromones which lets the male know that it is mating time for the female.
Yep, this is also true. The two fight, using their penises, attempting to inseminate the other. The advantage is that they will pass on their genes, without having to expend energy growing and laying the eggs.
This is also true. Koalas are as stupid as they are cute. Their smooth brains mean they "lack higher-level recognition and understanding that many other animals have," according to the University of Melbourne. As pointed out, if you take eucalyptus leaves – koalas' main food source, which they eat constantly – and put them on a plate instead of a tree, they won't know what the hell they are looking at.
