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HUNDREDS OF NEW CREEPY CRAWLIES FOUND HIGH IN THE AMAZON

Thursday, March 3, 2022

In this newsletter, we report on neon-colored invasive spiders, honkin’ hippos, an elephant in the courtroom … and show you an animal that shoots blood from its eyes. Plus, the latest Nat Geo News Quiz.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN BROWN, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

By Rachael Bale, Executive Editor, ANIMALS

Don’t look up? It turns out, entomologists historically didn’t do it much, concentrating mainly on the ground instead. But when researchers in the Brazilian rainforest decided to turn their focus skyward, they discovered an ecosystem in the trees unlike anything they ever expected.

There are hundreds of new species. So many they haven’t yet figured out the exact number. Some are so weird the scientists couldn’t even guess what genus they belong to. But the thing they’re especially excited about is how much the types of insects at a hundred feet off the ground vary from the types found at 80 feet off the ground, and 50 feet, and so on, Natasha Daly writes. This kind of vertical study in a rainforest is rare, and now researchers have masses of new information that sheds light on life at various levels of the forest.

What’s coolest to me, though, are the photos. (Pictured above, a yet-to-be-named phorid spy species 26 feet up; below, the massive eyes of a watchful jewel beetle.)

Entomologist Brian Brown, from LA’s Museum of Natural History, took super-close-up photos of many of the insects using a microscope, and I can honestly say I’ve never had more of an appreciation for bugs than I do now.

See more photos and read more about the discoveries here. And subscribers can see even more photos here.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY @BEVERLYJOUBERT

Open wide: Hippos are unforgettable in appearance … and vocals. Their "honk" heard across a landscape is just one of the many sounds in its repertoire. The talkative creatures also grunt, bellow, squeal, and roar, depending on if they’re addressing a friend or foe. As Nat Geo Explorer at Large Beverly Joubert writes, “Familiar voices get a cordial reaction, while strangers will often hear far more aggressive pronouncements, sometimes accompanied by territorial displays of dung spraying.”

Watch: Is this hippo in Botswana grieving the loss of her baby?

17 UNFORGETTABLE SAFARIS

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

The elephant in the courtroom (The New Yorker)

Mexican drug cartels expanding into wildlife crime (Nat Geo)

Nations agree to fix world’s plastic pollution (Nat Geo)

Man refuses to abandon 400 animals in Kyiv shelter and would 'rather die' than leave them (The Independent)

The world’s largest penguin facility just reopened in Detroit (Travel + Leisure)

Keeping up with the news? Try our Nat Geo News Quiz

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMIN L. FRICK, ODUM SCHOOL OF ECOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Whoa! Well, that was our reaction when we saw the photo of this giant, neon-colored spider. Perhaps that was also the reaction of ecologist Benjamin Frick when the invasive species turned up in his home state of Geogia. “It’s hard not to get interested in such a Nerf football-looking spider when it’s in your face that often,” says Frick, who once had 10 invasive jorō spider webs draping the trees outside his apartment. The tropical spiders could be inching their way farther north in the U.S., but there’s no reason for alarm. Despite the startling colors and size of the female spiders (males are smaller and brown) the spiders are harmless to humans, Carrie Arnold writes.

SEE MORE EXOTIC SPIDERS

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

We can’t answer the world’s toughest questions with the status quo.

Jessica Cramp

Marine biologist, Nat Geo Explorer

She fought for a shark sanctuary. Does it work?

THE LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY TIMOTHY FADEK, REDUX

Blue (and green) bloods: Whether a human, a snail, or a whale, most living organisms rely on blood for survival. Their blood isn’t always red. Some mollusks have pink-purplish blood; New Guinea tree skinks are green-blooded. And then there’s the Antarctic icefish, whose blood has no pigment. By the way, blood keeps some animals alive in bizarre ways: Short-horned lizards shoot arcs of blood out of their eyes when they feel threatened by a predator, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, blue blood extracted from Atlantic horseshoe crabs.)

A RAINBOW OF COLORS

This newsletter was curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse. Do you have an idea or a link for the newsletter? Let us know at [email protected]. If you want our daily newsletter, sign up here.

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