2：巧妙伪装和艳丽动物隐身
Clever Camouflage and Colorful Animal Stealth


动动物随着时间不得适应生存环境，因此它们看起来和周围环境差不多，此进化优势能有效地避开捕食动物。比如，昆虫像树叶，章鱼和沙质海底融为一体，鱼酷似海洋植物，甚至有一种章鱼能模仿近20种其它海洋动物，以吓跑攻击者。

Animals adapt over time to their environments, some so much so that they begin to look like their surroundings - a helpful evolutionary advantage in the face of potential predators (or while stalking prey). There are octopi that blend in perfectly with sandy ocean floors, insects that look just like leaves and fish that resemble oceanic plants. There is even an octopus that can mimic nearly twenty other oceanic species to scare off attackers.

相关内容：
1：Animal Disguises 动物世界里的伪装高手

2：动物界的伪装高手 Animals disappear using camouflage

3：变色动物和变形动物
Color-Changing and Shape-Shifting Animals



　　一些动物需要数周才能从一种形状变成另一种形状，但另一些动物数分钟内能变换颜色和质地。在一些情况下，它们和环境融为一体，甚至和身边的东西一模一样。当你寻找它们时，这些变色高手会将它们的体色调整得和环境一样，因此你很难近距离发现它们。



Some animals require weeks to shift from one state to another while others can change color and even texture in a matter of hours or minutes. In some cases they blend in roughly with their surroundings while in others they are almost a carbon copy of what they are next to. Even when you are looking for them, some color-changers fit into their context so well you would never even see them at close range.

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1：
自然界里的七大变脸高手

4：吞食配偶的动物
Cannibalistic Macabre Mate-Eating Animals


科学家还不是十分清楚一些动物为何要吃掉它们的配偶。在大自然中，嗜食同类的雌性动物远远多于雄性。在不少物种中，雄性动物似乎就是为向雌性动物提供一顿饕餮盛宴而生的。虽然科学家们对于“性食同类”(sexual cannibalism，交尾前后甚至交尾过程中，雌性吃掉与之交尾的雄性)这一现象假定了各种进化学上的“借口”，但他们的理论往往还是无法解释清楚这一怪异现象。比如，蝎子的最大敌人竟然是自己，超过一半的雄性沙漠蝎子都是死于交配完成之后的雌性配偶。不过，雄性蝎子自有策略，在与雌性发生性交配前会蛰一下雌性，让雌性完全屈服，以避免雌性交配完成后将其完全吞食。而雄性蜘蛛为了避免不被雌性吞食，它们会用爪子紧紧抓住雌性蜘蛛的下颚，或者为雌性带来了一些食物，从而转移雌性的注意力。
Scientists still do not know for sure what drives some animals to eat their mates. If they predominantly engaged in this behavior after mating one would assume they were getting sustenance for their newly-fertilized eggs - but most females attempt to eat the males even before mating. Scorpion males save themselves by stinging their partners into submission, mantises wait until a female has fed to approach her and spiders actually bring an offering of food in the hope that they themselves will not be the main course.


更多相关内容：
1：自然界中会吃掉配偶的几种动物

5：动物世界里的建筑工队伍和动物建筑师 
Group Builders and Animal Architects




人和现代修建的一些建筑物的确很了不起，称得上是人造奇迹。然而，自然界也有许多建筑高手，他们的“作品”同样令人叹为观止。比如，相对于他们的身体，白蚁造出动物界最大的建筑结构。白蚁的体长约1厘米，但它们建造的蚁穴重达数百吨，最高可达12米，这个数字相当于人类造出1400米的大楼！更令人不可思议的是，12米只是地面部分，它们还能在地下挖出68米深的洞穴。而在美国得克萨斯州北部公园，来自12个不同种类的数千只蜘蛛一起纳成了一个巨大的网，其它的跨度超过182米。

Humans work together all the time to build incredible structures we could never have dreamed up, let alone construct, on our own - but some animal architecture is arguably even more impressive. There is a spider web built by a variety of species working together that spans much of a public park, an ant colony that extends for thousands of miles and birds nests built by entire flocks living together under one thatched roof.

更多相关内容：

1：7 Architectural Wonders of the Natural World  
自然界七大建筑奇观：蜘蛛织出绵延182米巨网

6：自然与人为爆炸的动物 
Naturally and Artificially Exploding Animals




一些动物会爆炸。在一些情况，不幸的是，它们的爆炸没有什么帮助，比如鲸发爆炸声以离开公共海滩，二战自杀的狗追赶坦克。在另一些情况下，这种爆炸是一种防御机制或未知自然现象的副产品。马来西亚的爆炸蚂蚁（Camponotus saundersi）会自行爆炸而亡。为了保存群体，它们牺牲自己，充当“虫体炸弹”。而放屁虫将体内喷射功能提高到一个新水平：它利用化学反应产生的力，喷出一种沸腾的爆炸液体，每次最多可排放70次，简直就是一颗“凝固汽油弹”。所以，再解释这种甲虫的威胁就是多余的了。

Yes, you read that right: some animals explode. In some cases they unfortunately have help - like the whale detonated to get it off a public beach or the tank-hunting suicide dogs from World War II. In other cases, though, it happens as a defense mechanism or the by-product of an unknown natural phenomena. One of the widest publicized cases of an exploding animal involved gaseous buildup inside of a giant whale being transported by truck down a busy city street - you do not want to see those pictures.


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1：十种动物自卫绝招 Animal Defense Mechanisms

7:动物雨,很荒诞但是是真实存在的事情
Raining Animals: Radical but Real

英语中有一句话用来形容雨很大叫做:It rains cats and dogs. 不知道和这个有没什么关联
这听起来很可笑，却是真的，不过这种现象很罕见。鱼、青蛙和鸟都可以和雨一同降下来。有时降落下来的动物还是活的，但其它情况下，它们要么被冻死要么被摔死。从加利福尼亚到英国再到印度，不断出现有关动物雨的报道：一些小动物，例如鱼、青蛙和蛇偶尔会出人意料地从空中落下，有时候是在离水域数公里远的地方。科学家解释说，动物雨可能是龙卷风造成的。在湖泊或海洋上方急速旋转的海上龙卷风可能会把水以及水里的一切东西带进云层中。
　　这些暴风云中的强风则携带着卷进来的东西长途穿行，然后一股脑儿的将它们倾倒在毫无准备的人或建筑物之上。

Raining animals … it sounds ridiculous, right? Nonetheless, it happens - albeit rarely. Fish, frogs and birds are the most common forms of animal rain. Sometimes the creatures land relatively unscathed but in others they are frozen or shredded to pieces. Theories vary in their details but generally it is assumed thatcertain kinds of strong winds lift up the animals with a volume of water (fish and frogs from ponds, for example) or sweep them out of the sky in the case of birds and then deposit them, often right before a major storm.