Great Crested Grebe

Birds > Podicipediformes

The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) is an iconic, elegant waterbird famed throughout natural history for its mesmerizing and theatrical courtship displays. With its slender neck, dagger-like pinkish bill, and ornate chestnut-and-black head frills, it commands...

Bug-on-a-Stick Moss

Plants > Buxbaumiales

The Bug-on-a-Stick Moss (Buxbaumia aphylla) is universally celebrated among bryologists as one of the most eccentric and fascinating mosses in existence. Defying standard botanical expectations of what a moss should look like, this bizarre plant produces no noticeable...

Rugose Bracket Fungus

Fungi > Polyporales

The Rugose Bracket Fungus (Amauroderma rugosum) is a distinctive, long-stemmed polypore mushroom native to the tropical rainforests of the Old World. A close relative of the renowned medicinal reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma), this tough, woody fungus emerges directly...

Fungus Root

Plants > Santalales

Fungus Root (Balanophora fungosa) is a bizarre, leafless parasitic plant that looks remarkably like a fleshy, brightly colored woodland mushroom. Lacking true leaves, stems, and chlorophyll, this extraordinary angiosperm lives entirely unseen as an underground tuber...

Spiny Giant Pyrosome

Invertebrates > Thaliacea

The Spiny Giant Pyrosome (Pyrosoma spinosum) is one of the most astonishing colonial organisms in the global ocean. Often mistaken for a gigantic, glowing sea monster or a hollow underwater windsock, this ethereal creature is not a single animal, but a free-floating...