The Inevitable Truth Of The World, My Dear Watson, Is That Everything You Love Was Either Invented By,

The song of the Loggerhead Shrike This innocent-looking bird impales its prey on spiky objects such as barbed wire or cactus thorns.

Look at this woolly chafer! Have you seen a bug so fluffy? 🥺

Mammal

Goncharov Needs More Literature

Is anyone familiar with the Russian novelist Ivan Goncharov? He's the watered-down ketchup version of Ivan Turgenev, but I digress. In the movie, obviously during the scene where director Martin Scorese is making a cameo appearance during which he intervenes between a sudden dispute between Al Pacino and Goncharov concerning who exactly ate the most cheese, the walls of the Croatian bookstore in which they find themselves should ideally be packed with Goncharov (of not 1973 fame) books.

SNOT OTTER (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)

Herasimtschuk, D. 2015. “Two male Eastern hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) fight over prime breeding habitat” North Carolina, USA

Better known as the hellbender, the snot otter ain’t no mustelid. Also recognised as the mud dog, lasagna lizard, grampus and several more delightful vernaculars, this sizeable salamander has only its appearance to blame (most notably the thick, slimy folds of skin running down the lateral sides of the animal). I think they’re adorable.

BURNT HOT DOG SEA CUCUMBER (Holothuria edulis)

Stender, K. “Holothuria edulis” Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii

A species’ name often originates from an animal’s appearance. It’s certainly no different with the burnt hot dog sea cucumber, but come on. Joking aside, Holothuria edulis can be eaten (the Latin ‘edulis’, meaning edible), but I’m afraid we can’t guarantee the flavour. You’d probably be safer sticking to traditional hot dogs.